


Holding A Heart

by Blibber



Category: Lizzie Bennet Diaries
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Team Figi, Trolling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-27
Updated: 2013-08-23
Packaged: 2017-12-09 15:37:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 38,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/775870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blibber/pseuds/Blibber
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Canon divergent from Ep 95 on. What if Lizzie hadn't rung Darcy after Caroline turned up? What would this mean for them?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Breathe In

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic for this fandom and it's the first time in at least a year that I'm writing one. I'm eternally grateful for the LBD because it sparked up creativity that had been dormant for a long time. I've written fanfic for another fandom, but it's still scary putting it out there, so... be gentle?
> 
> Also, this work is unbeta'ed. Let me know if you see any glaring mistakes, though I'm Australian so our spelling differs slightly sometimes.
> 
> Title taken from Holding A Heart by Girl Named Toby. Awesome song.

  
_'I'll try all I can_   
_To find a soft place to land_   
_Calm down, calm down, calm down_

_I'm holding a heart here in my hand_   
_Hey, hey, hey_   
_My own work of art here where I stand_   
_Hey, hey, hey'_   


_Holding a Heart by Girl Named Toby_

 

***

 

“Lizzie! It’s so good to see you!” cried Jane over the top of the noise of the crowded airport.

 

“Jane!” Lizzie cried out, wrapping her arms around her sister. “Ugh, it’s been too long!”

 

“Two months does seem like a very long time when you’re missing someone,” Jane replied, grabbing one of her sister’s bags from her and leading her out of the airport.

 

Looping her arm around her sister’s back, Lizzie pulled her into her side as they walked. “I am so happy to see you again, Jane. Seriously. You make everything better.”

 

Jane stopped and pinned her sister with a look. “What do you need me to make better? Lydia’s healing, our parents still own the house, you’ve finished your thesis and graduated and now have potential investors contacting you about starting your own company. Is there anything else going on that I should know about?”

 

Lizzie paused, not knowing quite how to answer that one. “No! There’s no real problem, I’m just happy to see you.”

 

Jane searched her sister’s face for an uncomfortably long moment before turning back onto their original path. “Well I’m glad to see you too. We’ll have so much fun! Today we’re going out shopping. You’re going to buy yourself a very nice outfit because tomorrow night we’re going out to dinner at a fancy restaurant; Bing’s treat.”

 

“Jane-” Lizzie began to object.

 

“Seriously, Lizzie, don’t argue on this one. I’ve tried and lost. Bing is determined to make sure that you have a wonderful time while you’re here and has insisted on this. Just let him do this one thing. It’ll make him happy.”

 

Lizzie sighed, crumbling at the look on her sister’s face. “Fine. But, he’s going to learn that this is the one and only time he’s ever allowed to do this.”

 

“Fair enough,” smiled her sister, before her face fell and trepidation covered it instead. “Oh… by the way, Caroline is coming to visit for a day.”

 

Lizzie stopped in her tracks and stared at her sister. “What? You’ve got to be kidding me!”

 

“Lizzie…”

 

“Seriously, Jane. Has she even apologised for what she put you through?”

 

Jane looked away uneasily. “Well, no… but I can understand why she did it.”

 

“I get it too, but it doesn’t make it ok!”

 

“Look, I know the last time the two of you spoke wasn’t the most,” Jane paused, searching for the right word, “pleasant of circumstances, but can you try to be civil, for me?”

 

“I’m always civil,” was the grumbled reply.

 

“C’mon,” grinned Jane tugging her towards the exit. “Bing’s driver is waiting to take us shopping.”

 

Lizzie rolled her eyes and let her sister lead her on. “His driver, but of course.”

 

***

 

“Pizza and popcorn are two of the finest things in life,” Lizzie declared as she sat on the enormous couch in Bing’s loft.

 

“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself, Lizzie,” Bing told her. “Are you ready for dinner tomorrow night? I know it’s not pizza and popcorn, but I think you should enjoy yourself.”

 

“I am ready to gorge myself on sauteed squid testicles in garlic marmalade, or whatever it is you rich folk eat these days.” Lizzie grinned, enjoying the way Bing was absent-mindedly playing with the ends of her sister’s hair. Ever since they had arrived back at his loft armed with shopping bags, Bing had seemed to almost always be in constant physical contact with Jane. She wondered if either of them even noticed that it was happening, or if they just gravitated towards one another. “And, I have managed to snag myself a very nice outfit for the occasion. The top smelt like someone else’s perfume so I’ve handwashed it and it’s drying on the clotheshorse, ready for tomorrow.”

 

“I’m pretty sure there’s no such thing as garlic marmalade,” Jane insisted as Bing laughed.

 

“How many squid testicles would you need to have to make a decent sized meal?” Bing wondered aloud.

 

“Depends entirely on the size of the squid,” Lizzie replied absently, distracted by a photo on the mantelpiece. Her heart clenched inside her chest as she recognised a certain soulless, joyless newsie. Her eyes took in his form, simultaneously both pleased and pained to have a new point of reference. She had watched the videos he had appeared in countless times (with the exception of a certain episode) and could practically act out his part with all of his mannerisms. She had also stalked all of his photos on twitter and had memorised the few of those that there were.

 

“This is my favourite movie of all time,” Bing declared, snagging another piece of pizza from the box.

 

Lizzie shook her head to wipe out all thoughts of William Darcy and turned to Bing attempting to smile. “Aren’t you afraid of hurting the other movies’ feelings?” Lizzie teased, enjoying the blush that spread across his face.

 

“I don’t think you should go around telling everyone that an Adam Sandler movie is your favourite movie of all time,” Jane whispered to him.

 

Lizzie gave an enthusiastic nod. “People get shot for less these days.”

 

Bing’s blush deepened as he admitted, “Darcy tells me that it’s sacrilege, but I think Billy Maddison is the best movie ever made.”

 

Lizzie tried to keep the mention of his name from affecting her, but failed miserably. “Darcy is right, that is sacrilege.”

 

Lizzie kept her gaze trained on the screen, but could feel Jane’s speculative stare from across the couch. She had heard the hitch in her voice when she had mentioned Darcy by name. Bing was oblivious as per usual, but Jane hadn’t missed it. Lizzie just hoped that she wouldn’t bring it up. There was no point talking about it. Darcy’s radio silence had made it very clear just how he felt about her now.

 

***

 

“When do you find out?” Jane asked as she brushed her hair. She was sitting on the bed which would be Lizzie’s for the duration of her stay.

 

“Tomorrow some time,” Lizzie replied, trying to calm the nerves in her stomach as best she could. “I’m hoping that they ring to tell me in the morning so that I can spend the rest of the day recovering from my bitter disappointment. Come check on me to make sure I haven’t drowned in my tears, ok?”

 

“Lizzie,” her sister admonished, pinning her with an exasperated stare. “You are going to get this loan. You are going to use that loan as well as the money from all your investors to start your company.”

 

“You don’t know that,” she groaned, falling backwards onto the bed.

 

Jane slid herself across the bed to where Lizzie was lying. “Yes I do. I know it because I know you. You are my sister and you are brilliant.”

 

“More brilliant people than I have failed, oh optimistic sister of mine,” Lizzie reminded her, heaving a hefty sigh. “Jane, what the hell am I doing?”

 

Jane stroked a stray piece of hair off of her sister’s face. “Taking a chance. Living your life. Putting your skills to good use.”

 

“But what if I don’t get the loan? How am I going to tell Mom and Dad? My investors are great, but they don’t cover all of my financial requirements. If I don’t get this loan…”

 

“If you don’t get the loan, you’ll work something out,” Jane told her. “You’re too brilliant for this not happen. I know it’ll work out, you’ll see.”

 

“Thanks Jane,” Lizzie said with a smile. Her smile slid off her face and she sat bolt upright as a thought filtered through her mind. “You haven’t told Bing, have you?”

 

Jane rolled her eyes and gave her sister an affectionate smile. “No, Lizzie. Contrary to popular belief, I don’t tell Bing everything.”

 

“Good, I don’t want him to tell-” Lizzie pulled herself up short before she mentioned his name, “…anyone. I don’t want anyone to know before everything’s finalised. I couldn’t handle the embarrassment if it all went to crap.”

 

If Jane noticed the unnecessary pause, she didn’t mention it. “Failure is not an embarrassment, Lizzie.”

 

“I don’t think you’ve ever said anything so untrue in your life, Jane Bennet.”

 

Jane pinned her with a disbelieving look. “Is this why you didn’t tell your viewers, Lizzie? Because you didn’t want them to know if it didn’t work out?”

 

Lizzie looked away from her sister and the disappointment written on her face. “If it works out, I’ll tweet it to them.”

 

“Lizzie…”

 

Lizzie stood up from the bed and ran her hands through her hair. “I know! I’m not very brave! But it’s taking all my stockpile of courage to go through with trying to start my own company. I don’t have any left over to deal with everyone knowing that I tried and failed.”

 

“We don’t know that you have failed, Lizzie,” Jane reminded her, “so make sure you have a plan for what you’ll do if you do succeed, not just a plan for how you’ll deal with the disappointment if you don’t.”

 

“Sure thing, Mom,” Lizzie told her with a begrudging smile.

 

Gracefully standing up from the bed, Jane crossed the room to her sister and enfolded her in her arms. “I love you and I’m proud of you.”

 

“Love you, too,” Lizzie murmured, enjoying the comfort of her sister’s presence.

 

Jane pulled back and looked to the door. “I better get going before Bing thinks that I’ve gotten lost.”

 

Lizzie snorted. “Wouldn’t be hard. This place is enormous.”

 

Jane chuckled, said goodnight and exited the room. As she left, the comfort she had extended to her sister fled too. Doubt and anxiety filled Lizzie again and she collapsed on her bed. Less than twenty four hours until D Day. Sleep would definitely be hard to come by that night.

 

***

 

(The Next Day)

 

“I’m worried, Fitz. He’s been like this for months now.”

 

“I know, Gigi D, but we both know why he’s so sullen and mopey.”

 

“Maybe we could organise something. There has to be a reason to go to Netherfield, right? We could talk to Jane and-”

 

“I can hear you,” Darcy called out from behind his newspaper, halting the fervid whispers across the aisle from him. “Please, just stop whatever you are thinking of doing.”

 

“But William, you’re unhappy. I know if you were to just see her again that-”

 

“Stop.” He didn’t mean to say it harshly, but his heart couldn’t follow the direction Gigi was heading. He had spent the last couple of months being haunted by her, he didn’t need any more foolish hopes and silly dreams. She didn’t want him. Her silence had made that clear enough. “No plans, no clandestine meetings, no code names.”

 

“But she misses you!” Gigi objected. “I know she does!”

 

“How?” he bit out, glad that the newspaper was covering a good portion of his face. “Have you asked her? Has she told you that directly? She has made it perfectly clear that I do not fit into her life and I am respecting that decision.”

 

Fitz sighed and shifted in his seat. “Darcy, did you ever think that the reason Lizzie hasn’t contacted you are the same reasons you haven’t contacted her? Maybe you’re both afraid.”

 

Darcy sighed, folding the paper down to look at the two of them. “Or maybe she doesn’t feel anything for me at all. She has dozens of videos in which she shows how she really feels about me. It was foolish to think that that hatred could ever truly be recovered from.”

 

Fitz frowned at him, dismayed by the bleakness  apparent in his friend. He hadn’t seen him like that since the fall. “She doesn’t hate you, dude.”

 

“No, but she certainly does not feel the same way I feel about her. Now, we are not talking about this again.” Darcy opened his paper with a finality that couldn’t be gainsaid. “Ever.”

 

***


	2. Hold It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Surprise guests and good panics.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so there is a part in this chapter that I would call OOC and borderline crack!fic. But it wouldn't get out of my head and it made me giggle. Please don't hate me for it, I'm delicate.
> 
> Still unbeta'ed and still rusty. Let me know if there are any glaringly obvious mistakes.

 

***

 

By lunchtime, Lizzie Bennet felt the first stirrings of a good panic. She kept catching concerned glances from Jane, especially when she systematically shredded her paper napkin within 30 seconds of having sat down at a café for lunch.

 

“Haven’t heard?” Jane enquired when Bing went up to the counter to order coffee.

 

Lizzie shook her head and stared at her phone, willing it to ring. “It’s like they’re trying to torture me.”

 

Jane smiled indulgently at her sister. “Yeah, that’s their objective for the day. Let’s toy with that Bennet girl’s emotional stability.”

 

Lizzie nodded vehemently. “Believe me, they know exactly what they’re doing. They've already decided whether or not they're giving me the loan and now they're leaving it as late as possible to see if they can cause cardiac arrest.”

 

“What are we talking about?” Bing asked as he returned to the table.

 

Lizzie shrugged, affecting a casual air. “Not much, just life in general.”

 

Bing grinned at her. “Ah yes, the new master of communications. Trying to figure out where to go from here? Have you tried handing in your resume at different media companies? I’m sure that any company would be happy to have you.”

 

Lizzie faltered for a moment before regrouping herself. “I have a few things in the works right now. I’m waiting to see what happens.”

 

Bing’s face broke out into an excited grin as an idea struck him. “You know, you should see if there are any jobs open at Pemberly Digital! I’m sure Darcy would give you a job in an instant.”

 

Lizzie’s eyes widened momentarily at the sudden, unexpected mention of Darcy and at the idea of her approaching the man she had so rudely rejected for a job. Talk about inappropriate. It was one thing to shadow at Pemberly, but entirely another to try and finagle a permanent position. How would that appear to a man like Darcy? She would look so desperate, like she’d pushed her way into his amazing company just to be back in his presence. Especially now that she had discovered his worth as a human being and had been proven totally and utterly wrong in her previous assessment of him. She would look so grasping, so foolish.

 

“It’s an… option,” she managed to get out, trying not to let her inner turmoil show on her face.

 

“You should call him,” Bing suggested. Lizzie nearly let out a shrill bark of laughter at the absurdity of his suggestion. One did not simply just _call_ William Darcy. “Here, I’ll call him and you can talk to him.”

 

“I-I’ll wait, I think, until I know what’s happening with these other opportunities,” Liz stuttered out, trying hard not to let out a visible sigh of relief when Bing’s hand halted on its way to his pocket. Crisis averted. “Wouldn’t want to jump the gun.”

 

Bing nodded, a knowing look crossing his face. “Fair enough.”

 

A moment of awkward silence fell over them before Lizzie asked, “So, Bing! How’s the charity work going?”

 

Bing smiled brightly at the question and then began to detail his involvement with four different charities. Lizzie closed her eyes and exhaled, releasing some of the tension within her.

 

While there was no doubt that she was happy for Jane and her relationship with Bing, she just wished it didn’t come with such tight ties to a certain CEO. Was her life always going to be tied to his? Would she always have him lingering in the background, reminding her of what she’d thrown away so callously months ago?

 

 

 

***

 

Collapsing on the couch, Fitz groaned. Airplane trips were the worst, even if you were all the way up in first class.

 

Gigi plonked herself beside him, dreading the thought of getting up in twenty minutes to head to the restaurant. She was dressed for the occasion but the couch was too inviting.

 

“Is Jane here?” Darcy enquired.

 

The idea of seeing Jane again filled him with both dread and fevered anticipation. Jane never passed up an opportunity to talk about her family and he was certain that tonight would be no exception. He was eager to hear about Lizzie, though he knew that the pain of hearing about her would be piercing and uncomfortable.

 

But he was used to Lizzie causing him both pain and pleasure at the same time. It had been that way since the beginning of his infatuation with her. At first she had tempted him (unreasonably, he thought at the time – she was a broke grad student with an awful family, who was she to captivate him this way?), then she had shattered him and the only way to get his fix was to watch her videos which offered tantalising insights into her life and made him feel connected to her even when it was truly the opposite. Lastly, she had given him painful hope that maybe one day they could be… but that hope had died the minute Charlotte had rung. Now he didn’t even have any new videos to look forward to. It was like a door had been slammed shut or a limb cut off. His last point of contact with her – gone.

 

“Any minute now,” Bing answered with an uncharacteristic grin that bordered on Machiavellian. “She’ll be right out once she’s ready.”

 

“I look forward to meeting her,” Gigi said, casting a pointed look towards William. “If she’s anything like Lizzie, I’m sure I’ll love her.”

 

Darcy ignored the look and felt his heart clench in his chest at the sight of Lizzie’s graduation photo up on the wall. There was that pleasure and pain again. God, she looked so beautiful. So animated, so vibrant, so… happy. He was glad she was happy. It was all he had ever wanted for her.

 

“Biiii-iiii-iiing!” came a disembodied sing-song voice from within the apartment.

 

“Yeah?” replied Bing, a knowing smirk on his features as the three people on the couch looked at one another in confusion. That didn’t sound like Jane.

 

“Close your eyes for a sec,” replied the unmistakable voice of Lizzie Bennet.

 

Darcy froze on the couch, his heart racing and a sick anticipatory feeling in his stomach. He barely noticed Gigi’s surprised mini flip out and Fitz’s shit-eating grin. In fact, he barely felt the nudge from Fitz’s elbow at all.

 

“What for?”

 

“Just do it,” Lizzie huffed. Darcy could hear the smile in her voice and could just imagine the quirk of her lips. He had made it a habit of studying her facial expressions from behind the safety of a computer screen and could safely say that he was now a scholar of the many facial expressions of Lizzie Bennet.

 

“And don’t open your eyes until I tell you, ok?” She added. Darcy stared desperately at the doorway as he heard her footsteps move closer towards them. Towards _him_.

 

“They’re closed,” Bing called out, his head bowed.

 

Darcy stiffened as Lizzie Bennet quickly hurried into the room. Darcy previously had no idea why Bing had to have his eyes closed for this part, but once he saw her, he understood completely.

 

Lizzie Bennet was topless.

 

Wearing nothing more than a black fitted skirt, high heels and a red bra, Lizzie Bennet was certainly a sight to behold.

 

She breezed past all three of them on the couch, hidden from her eyesight by the angle of entryway and her single-minded determination to reach the clotheshorse on the other side of the room.

 

The vision of Lizzie’s red, lacy bra contrasting sharply against the stark white of her skin was an image that Darcy knew would haunt his dreams for the rest of his days.

 

Darcy couldn’t tear his eyes off of her. He took in the long graceful lines of her torso, the delicate, smooth and creamy skin and the outline of her breast as she held the shirt up above her head and writhed into its tight confines.

 

Once done, Lizzie fixed the hem, smoothed down the shirt with graceful strokes and said, “You can look now, Bing.”

 

Bing opened his eyes dutifully, swung his gaze towards her and took the three steps he needed to reach her. “Why did I need to do that?”

 

Lizzie grinned up at him and patted his cheek. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head about it. Seriously. Don’t ask. I don’t want to have to pay for your therapy bills.” Lizzie paused for a second and then posed for him. “What do you think, anyway? Am I dressed up enough for the occasion? I wouldn’t want to disappoint as your third wheel tonight. You know how I love being a third wheel.”

 

Bing’s grin grew in intensity as he replied, “You look lovely, as you are fully aware. But actually, there has been a change of plans. You won’t be a third wheel tonight.”

 

Lizzie arched an eyebrow in confusion. “Oh?”

 

“You’ll be rounding out a party of six,” Bing crowed triumphantly, grabbing Lizzie by the shoulder and spinning her around to face the couch.

 

The easy smile dropped from Lizzie’s face and her face slackened into an expression of almost comical horror. Were it not happening to her, this situation would have been laughable indeed.

 

“Surprise!” cried the oblivious Bing, looking extremely pleased with himself.

 

William Darcy couldn’t lip-read, but he was fairly certain that Lizzie had just silently mouthed the words, “Oh FUCK.”

 

Bing slung an arm around Lizzie’s neck. “Isn’t this great? Aside from Lydia, Caroline and Charlotte, we’re all back together again.”

 

Despite her burning mortification, Lizzie was still grateful that Caroline was not around to see that spectacular fail. She’d never have to suffer the endless pointed remarks about her lack of decorum. Small mercies, she mused.

 

“Lizzie B!” Fitz cheered, moving towards her, wrapping his arms around her and lifting her off the ground in an enthusiastic embrace. “Gorgeous, I have missed your face.”

 

“Good to see you too, Fitz,” Lizzie replied weakly, wishing that there was a nearby black hole. Or a TARDIS. A TARDIS would have suited her needs very nicely.

 

“Nice bra,” Fitz whispered in her ear. Lizzie’s pained groan was nowhere near as quiet. She released him from her grip and hung her head in mortification.

 

“No really,” Fitz assured her, holding her arms as she stared resolutely at the ground. “Lizzie B, you rocked it. You’re enough to make a man turn straight.”

 

Shaking her head, Lizzie sighed and held out her arms to Gigi.

 

Gigi let out an excited squeal as she wrapped her arms around her friend. “Lizzie! This is so awesome! I had no idea you were going to be here, too!”

 

“Really.” Lizzie intoned flatly, clearly not believing her.

 

“No seriously,” Gigi reassured her as she pulled back from the hug. “We had no idea. This is all Bing’s doing.”

 

“Does Jane know?” Lizzie enquired.

 

“Nope,” Bing grinned. “It’s all a big surprise.”

 

“Well, it was certainly…” Lizzie paused, searching for an appropriate word. “Surprising.”

 

Lizzie turned from Gigi and faltered at the intense stare coming from Darcy. He was so hard to read. Was that disapproval in his gaze? Lust? Relief that he’d escaped a romantic entanglement with a brazen hussy who flashed her bra at everyone? Out of all the possible emotions she thought William Darcy could have been feeling as he gazed at her, relief was that one that burned her most of all. She could deal with him not wanting her anymore (it sucked but she could deal with it), but for him to be congratulating himself on escaping her clutches… well, that left an entirely different mark.

 

“Lizzie,” he finally greeted, breaking off their staring contest when Bing not so subtly cleared his throat.

 

“Darcy.”

 

For a moment, an awkward silence filled the room and Lizzie felt sure that the universe would grant her a reprieve from the situation and hurl a meteor into the living room. But no, that only happened in lucky places like Russia and Lizzie was therefore forced to continue living the nightmare.

 

“Oh wow, Darcy?”

 

Lizzie turned her head and gratefully sighed as Jane entered the room and filled the awkward silence.

 

“And you must be the beautiful Jane Bennet,” greeted Fitz as she made her way to him. “I’m glad to see that you’re just as beautiful off camera as you are on.”

 

“It’s so good to finally see you!” Jane cried with a beaming smile. Grasping Fitz in a hug, she grabbed his hand after he had released her and said, “Thank you so much for helping Lizzie with that care package the two of you sent me. It was so sweet of you.”

 

Fitz stiffened and the smile dropped off of his face. “You’re, uh… welcome.”  He then turned to Lizzie once Jane had turned her attention to GiGi and asked, “Is she for real? I bragged about Bing dumping her because of Darcy during that video.”

 

“She is totally sincere,” Lizzie replied with a fond shake of her head. “With Jane Bennet, what you see is what you get.”

 

“I knew she was nice,” Fitz replied. “But that is creepy nice. That’s like Stepford Wives nice.”

 

“Would you prefer she hated you?” Lizzie whispered, ignoring the heat of Darcy’s stare from across the room.

 

“No, this is better. I just wish I’d never said anything in the first place. I think I win the award for worst wingman of all time. Even Bing’s doing a better job than I am currently.”

 

Lizzie ignored the implications of that comment and excused herself from the room, claiming the need to look for earrings, despite the fact that she already had a pair in.

 

Shutting the door behind her, Lizzie let go of the breath she’d unconsciously been holding and threw herself face first on the bed. Reaching for a pillow, Lizzie smooshed her face into it and screamed.

 

Though muffled, the sound still carried.

 

Approximately ten seconds later, Jane stuck her head in through the doorway, a look of concern spreading across her face at the sight of her prone sister.

 

“Lizzie? Are you ok?”

 

“No. Could you please stab me with something sharp until I’m dead? Make it look like an accident, I don’t want you to go to jail for murder. I’d do it myself, but I’m afraid of the pain.”

 

Sitting next to her on the bed, Jane stroked Lizzie’s back. “It’s not that bad, Lizzie. So you didn’t know that he’d be there… worse things have happened, right?”

 

“Jane, I ran through the room without a shirt on. No shirt. Just a bra. I practically flashed everyone! I’m like one of those guys in trenchcoats at the train station. A lady flasher!”

 

Jane recoiled slightly in confusion. “What? Why did you do that?”

 

“I didn’t mean to! I didn’t know they were there! I just wanted to wear this shirt and it was drying on the clotheshorse in front of the marble fireplace. So I told Bing to close his eyes and ran in there to get it.”

 

“You told Bing to close his eyes?” demanded Jane, a scandalised look upon her face. “And then ran through his living room topless? Lizzie!”

 

Lizzie huffed into the pillow. “Focus, Jane. At least I told him to shut his eyes. And besides, he’s going to be my brother one day, he should get used to me treating him like family.  I didn’t know _they’d_ be there. Now they must think I’m the biggest slut to come from the ghetto side of ho-town.”

 

“Hey!” Jane protested, rubbing her hand comfortingly down her sister’s back. “They don’t think that. In fact, Darcy told Fitz not to laugh at your discomfort.”

 

Lizzie’s head bobbed up from the pillow to look at her sister. “He did?”

 

“He did,” insisted Jane, smiling knowingly at her hopeful sister. “And he watched you leave and stared at the doorway after you left. You two are so sweet together.”

 

Lizzie grunted and rolled her eyes. “We’re not together, Jane. He hasn’t contacted me since he put me into his car to take me to the airport.”

 

“Have you contacted him?” Jane enquired, cocking an eyebrow at her.

 

“No, but it’s clearly not something that he wants. Otherwise he’d have contacted me.”

 

Jane rolled her eyes at her sister’s convoluted logic. “Maybe he’s afraid of being rejected again. You did say some not so nice stuff to him last time he tried.”

 

“It’s far more likely that he doesn’t like me anymore,” Lizzie griped, pulling herself up into sitting position and off of the bed. “Anyway, we have a dinner reservation to make. We should get going. I’ve had my mini freak out. I’m all set now.”

 

“Ok,” Jane agreed, brushing her hand down her sister’s skirt to help rid her of some of the wrinkles. “We’ll talk about it later then.”

 

Lizzie gave her two very unenthusiastic thumbs up. “Looking forward to that!”

 

 

 

***


	3. Go On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phone calls, champagne, Pokemon and epic fails.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, look at all of you shiny, sexy people. Thank you for all the love.
> 
> Still unbeta'ed. Still rusty (but slowly shaking off the flakes).
> 
> More awkward moments with Darcy? Can I get a yes please?
> 
> And also, Fitz. Because... Fitz.

*** 

 

“Oh calm down, Lizzie,” Gigi insisted with a laugh as she nudged her friend with her elbow, “we’d have seen more if you were wearing a bikini.”

 

“Totally not the point.”

 

“What is the point?”

 

Lizzie glanced at the person on the other side of her. They were travelling to the restaurant by limo and somehow she had been sandwiched between Gigi and Darcy before she really knew what was happening. She resolved to never again underestimate the power of Team Figi.

 

“Gigi,” Darcy warned sternly. “You’re making Lizzie uncomfortable. Stop.”

 

Her smile turned smug as she watched the expression on Lizzie’s face alter. “Fine. Let’s talk about your graduation! How was it?”

 

“Long and boring,” Lizzie replied as calmly as she could. Darcy had just rescued her from an awkward conversation. She tried not to overanalyse it too much. Perhaps he was such a gentleman that he’d do the same for anyone. Perhaps he was just sick of hearing about it. It wasn’t necessarily a sign that he still loved her. After everything she had put him through, he surely couldn’t still… could he?

 

“That bad?”

 

Lizzie grimaced as she recalled the mind-numbing inanity of it. “I’m pretty sure the speeches were longer than my actual thesis. I was there for so long that menopause happened.”

 

“Bummer. So that means no Dizzie, I mean, Lizzie babies?” Gigi bit back her smile when both Lizzie and Darcy stiffened at the mention of their shipping name.

 

“Don’t worry,” Lizzie replied as calmly as she could, “I can always steal some from the hospital when the nurses aren’t looking.”

 

“Oh yeah, Mom’ll be thrilled,” teased Jane. “Anything for grandchildren. Even potential jail time for her daughter wouldn’t put a dampener on her joy.”

 

Lizzie smiled as they rolled up to the restaurant, halting all conversation. She knew that Gigi held hopes that she and Darcy would get together, but she was a girl who could take a hint. William Darcy didn’t want her anymore. And that was…

 

Well, it was what it was. There was nothing she could do about it now. That ship had sailed.

 

She just hoped that Fitz and Gigi weren’t planning to match make the entirety of her stay. She didn’t want Darcy to feel uncomfortable any more than he already was.

 

Her hope, it seemed, was a vain one. It seemed that she and Darcy were sitting next to one another, as organised by both Gigi and Fitz. Jane and Bing sat opposite them with Fitz and Gigi grinning at one another down the end. How they managed to finagle that arrangement with such finesse, she couldn’t work out, but there it was. One agoraphobic lobster to her right.

 

Taking a quick glimpse at his face, Lizzie felt her heart sink at the grimace on his face. Was she now grimace worthy? Really?

 

“Here’s the wine list,” Darcy murmured, snapping her out of her downward spiral of angst.

 

“Thank you,” she managed to garble out. Reaching out, she took it, but in doing so her fingers grazed his. She stiffened at the unexpected contact and tried to pretend that her stomach hadn’t imploded in on itself.

 

Darcy cleared his throat and her fingers clenched around the wine list. She pulled it from his grasp and forced herself to look away from him and down at it.

 

Lizzie made a plan to not to think about his long, strong fingers for the rest of the evening. By about the thirty second mark, she had failed her goal miserably.

 

She responded to queries vaguely and half kept up with the conversation, but her thoughts were more taken with him. What did he think of her now? Did he think of her half as much as she did him? Why did he buy out a company for Lydia? Was it a sense of skewed responsibility? A totally justified vendetta against Wickham? Did he still care about her?

 

Try as she might to discern the answers, she knew the only way to know for sure was to ask him. But she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

 

“What do you think you’ll do with your life now that you’re all done, Lizzie B?” Fitz enquired once the orders had been taken and the drinks had arrived.

 

“There are a few things happening at the moment,” Lizzie replied honestly, her previous anxiety flooding back. “But I’m not going to talk about it until things are more… concrete. I don’t want to tell you about it and then it all falls through.”

 

“You know,” Gigi grinned at her. “There might be some openings at Pemberly Digital if these ‘things’ don’t work out for you.”

 

“Thanks, Gigi,” Lizzie replied, shaking her head at her lack of subtlety. As if on cue, her phone rang, and by the name on the screen, she knew it was the phone call she’d been holding out for.

 

“Please, excuse me,” she babbled, springing from her seat and rushing towards the bathroom to take the phone call in relative privacy. After a minute, Jane joined her and listened as best she could to the one-sided conversation.

 

Fifteen minutes later, Lizzie hung up the phone and turned to her sister who looked at her expectantly.

 

“Well?”

 

“Jane… I’m going to run my own company!”

 

Jane rushed and hugged her sister who promptly burst into noisy tears. It was shocking to her how emotional this relief and joy had made her, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. She had had so many things worrying her and stressing her and she had had to muddle her way through this entire affair. Lydia’s tape, her own unresolved feelings about Darcy, her thesis and possibly starting up a company on the back of all those things had compounded everything until she was just one big ball of stress. This piece clicking into place had just proven too much for her.

 

“God, I’m such a mess,” she hiccupped as she wept onto her sister’s shoulder.

 

Jane ran a soothing hand down her back. “You’ve had a lot on your plate. You’re entitled to feel what you’re feeling.”

 

“Future company owners shouldn’t be crying hysterically in restaurant bathrooms,” Lizzie countered as she pulled away from Jane to run a tissue under her eyes.

 

“Future media moguls can do whatever the hell they feel like,” Jane replied with a smirk. “Now, let’s assess the makeup damage.”

 

“Media mogul? You sure have high hopes for me,” snorted Lizzie, fishing her mascara and compact out of her handbag.

 

Jane shrugged and commandeered the compact, patting it gently underneath Lizzie’s eyes. “Not really. I just know you and what you’re capable of.”

 

Bolstered and immensely touched by her sister’s faith in her, Lizzie pulled back her tears and smiled. “Better get back out there, huh?”

 

“Got some good news to share?” suggested Jane, unable to hide the pride she felt for her sister.

 

Lizzie shook her head. “Not yet. I think Mom, Dad Lydia and Charlotte deserve to hear the good news first. They’ve been dealing with my insane mood swings and dramatic outbursts for the past month; I think they’ve earned the right to know before Fitz or Gigi.”

 

If Jane noticed Darcy’s conspicuous absence from that statement, she made no comment. “Are you going to call them now?”

 

“No. I’ll wait till we get back and I can talk to them for as long as I want. I have a lot to say to them – to thank them for.”

 

Jane nodded and snapped the foundation compact shut. Offering Lizzie her arm, she said, “Shall we, oh brilliant media mogul sister of mine?”

 

Looping her arm through her sisters, Lizzie let her good mood wash over her. “We shall.”

 

They made their way back to the table and Gigi stopped abruptly mid-sentence when she caught sight of Lizzie.

 

“Lizzie, are you ok?” Gigi asked as she saw the red rimmed eyes of her friend.

 

“I’m fine,” Lizzie replied with a smile, taking her seat. “Don’t worry about me. Just having a moment.”

 

Darcy stared at her anxiously. “Are you sure there is nothing we can do to help, Lizzie?”

 

“No, nothing’s wrong. I promise.” Sucking in a large breath, Lizzie grinned at everyone around her. “So, how’s everyone’s dinner?”

 

“Can’t complain,” Fitz replied hesitantly, not sure if he should press her about her quite obvious emotional state. He paused when he took in Jane’s beaming smile and the way she looked at her sister. If there was bad news here, it certainly wasn’t bad from Jane’s side of things. And, he noted, from the smile Lizzie gave her in return that perhaps it wasn’t bad news at all.

 

“I think,” Jane began, sending a smile across the table to her sister, “that tonight is a champagne night. Let’s celebrate.”

 

“Anything in particular that we’re celebrating?” Gigi asked, one eyebrow raised.

 

“We’re all here,” Lizzie enthused, a grin taking up permanent pride of place on her face. It was just now beginning to sink in that her dreams were actually coming true. “We’re all young, and awesome, and totally sexy, why shouldn’t we celebrate?”

 

Lizzie was particularly glad that she tamped down on the urge to look at Darcy as she uttered that last tongue in cheek statement. There was no need to add to the level of discomfort.

 

“Damn right, Lizzie B!” Fitz cheered, grabbing the attention of a nearby waiter.

 

Later that night, when she was lying in the four poster bed in her room, Lizzie would tell Charlotte (after calling her parents and Lydia to pass on the news and dealing with their reactions– “Lizzie! Oh, my baby’s gonna be rich!”, “You always were the most pragmatic of my offspring. I’m proud of you, my Lizzie.” and “Wooo! That’s my sister, bitches!”) that this was the point when she should have probably paused and reconsidered her actions. It would have saved her a lot of embarrassment.

 

 

***

 

Lizzie B was pleasantly buzzed. If she was being honest with herself, she would have admitted that she was already past pleasantly buzzed and sliding dangerously into drunk. But that was ok, she rationalised, because she was allowed at least one night to celebrate after weeks of stress. It was only fair.

 

Which is why she had decided that singing the pokemon theme song at the top of her lungs with Fitz as they walked through Times Square was an excellent idea. Well… skipped through Times Square would have been a more accurate description.

 

Fitz, who had had way more horrendously expensive champagne than Lizzie, and who was by no means a heavyweight when it came to drinking, had then tried to ballroom dance with her and it had taken more than a few collisions with passing pedestrians to get him to abandon the idea.

 

Because Lizzie had never seen it before, it was decided that they would visit Times Square after their exorbitantly priced meals and take in a few sights of the city.

 

“Well, I’m not sure I want to be arrested tonight, but I’m sure it’ll make an interesting story to tell my grandkids one day,” Bing commented, kissing the side of Jane’s head as they walked arm in arm together.

 

“Let them have fun,” Jane said with an indulgent smile, “it’s nice to see them happy.”

 

“It’s you and me!” Fitz caterwauled before shoving Lizzie into Darcy. Darcy barely had time to react and stop her from careening into the sidewalk. “I KNOW IT’S MY DESTINY!”

 

“Fitz,” Darcy admonished, swallowing hard as he realised that Lizzie had braced herself with her hands against his chest and that she had yet to move them. “She could have been hurt.”

 

“But you were there to catch her when she fell,” Fitz sighed, holding his hand over his heart.

 

“You mean when she was unceremoniously shoved by a drunken bag of dicks,” Lizzie huffed, trying to instil some sort of dignity back into her herself. Stepping back from Darcy she cleared her throat. “Thank you.”

 

Turning away, her graceful exit was ruined by an uneven part in the pavement. Catching her toe on it, Lizzie nearly connected facially with the pavement.

 

Luckily for her, lightning quick reflexes from Darcy meant that the only thing wounded was her dignity. She would have preferred the bruises and scrapes any day over that. Skin tended to heal faster than the pride.

 

“Walking too much for you, Lizzie?” Gigi giggled. “We could get you a motorised scooter.”

 

“Might be a better option for me at this point,” Lizzie breathed, her gaze directed at the large hand that had a steady grip on her elbow.

 

Darcy coughed and released her arm when he realised in what direction her eyes were looking.

 

“Thanks,” Lizzie squeaked out. “Again.”

 

Darcy attempted to smile at her, but his smile turned out to be more of a grimace. “You’re uh… you’re very welcome.”

 

Lizzie nodded and headed back to Fitz, ignoring him when he waggled his eyebrows suggestively at her. She also ignored the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach and the residual burning from the warmth and pressure of his hand on her arm.

 

If she could get through this trip without making an enormous idiot of herself, she knew she’d have exceeded her expectations by miles.

 

Sobered by humiliation, Lizzie toughed it out until Bing had his driver pick them up and drop them back at his loft. She gratefully slunk into her room and banged her head against the wall a few times before reaching into her handbag for her phone.

 

She did after all, have some very good news to impart. Anticipating her family’s reactions warmed her heart and gave her a much needed distraction from the debacle of Times Square. She could just about hear Charlotte’s squeals of joy in her head already.

 

The smile returned to her face as she hit the green button. “Hey dad? Yeah, it’s me. Guess what?”

 

 

***


	4. Begin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Picnics and misunderstandings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, unbeta'ed. Let me know if you see any glaring mistakes.
> 
> And oh... these two. If only we could smack their heads together.
> 
> Thank you all for your comments and kudos!

***

 

“Breakfast at Bings is a stately affair,” Lizzie commented as she sat down at the dining table. “Silver platters and china? We’re just having toast.”

 

“It takes some getting used to,” Jane admitted, buttering the piping hot toast served to her by Bing’s housekeeper.

 

“I feel slightly underdressed,” Lizzie mused, her flannel pyjamas clashing comically with the opulent surroundings.

 

“It’s ok, Bing and I never get dressed for breakfast either. You won’t be out of place.”

 

Jane had just finished reassuring Lizzie when Darcy strode into the room fully dressed and looking particularly dapper.

 

“Good morning,” he greeted, sitting at the table across from them and being served cereal in a delicate and ornate bowl.

 

Lizzie shot Jane a look after comparing her attire to his. Jane winced for her and shot her a sympathetic look.

 

They both greeted him and Lizzie tried not to die internally when an awkward silence ballooned out and filled the entire room.

 

After a few minutes of fidgeting in uncomfortable indecision, Jane decided to bite the bullet and blurted out, “Darcy, I’m sorry if this is going to make you uncomfortable, but we have to do it.”

 

Both Lizzie and Darcy looked warily at Jane wondering where she was going with this. Lizzie wanted to trust that her sister wouldn’t involve herself in the intrusive, embarrassing and meddling matchmaking that Gigi and Fitz were so fond of, but she couldn’t be sure.

 

Jane took a deep breath before she began. “Lizzie and I have to thank you for what you did for Lydia and for our family as a whole. You have no idea what it meant to us.”

 

“Yeah,” Lizzie agreed, noticing the stiff set of his shoulders and conflicted look on his face.

 

He paused, seemingly trying to figure out what to say. After a moment, he lifted his eyes, rested them on Lizzie’s face and replied, “You’re very welcome.”

 

Lizzie felt her heart race triple time as he looked at her. She couldn’t help but read more meaning into this moment than it probably warranted, but she couldn’t help it. Jane had thanked him, but he had stared at _her_. What did he mean by it? Was it just random choice? The gravity of his stare made it feel like it couldn’t be. It felt far too pointed for that. If he was trying to convey some message, then why couldn’t he just tell her directly?

 

More to the point, why couldn’t she just talk honestly with him herself? It figured that the only time she could ever have an open, honest conversation with him was when she was berating him for his very existence and telling him that she hated him.

 

His eyes dropped and he returned his attention to his cereal. Lizzie’s brow creased. Was that it? Seriously? Would he offer no explanation for why he did it? Surely he had to know that she was burning to know why he had done it? She was desperate for any sort of reason for his much needed interference into her sister’s problem.

 

Turning her attention back to her toast, Lizzie missed her sister’s speculative look that flicked between the two of them.

 

***

 

“So, what’s on the agenda for today?” Lizzie asked as she entered the living room, having spent more time than usual getting dressed and ready for the day. Being constantly around beautiful people had that effect on her.

 

Darcy looked up from his tablet and faltered as he took her in. Was there ever a point where she stopped being breathtaking?

 

“Fitz is still… recovering from last night,” Gigi informed her, smiling as she recalled his pained groan when she had opened his curtains and let light in. “But we’re going to go for a super-secret special sojourn circling the city.”

 

“Did Fitz give it that name?” Lizzie enquired, glibly amused by the alliteration.

 

Gigi grinned at her. “But of course, Lizzie. Did you really think anybody else would waste their time like that?”

 

“Ok, we’re all set!” cheered an ever enthusiastic Bing. “Let’s move it.”

 

Picking up an actual wicker picnic basket, Bing herded them all downstairs and into the car parked outside.

 

Though she was sad that Fitz was suffering from a hangover, she couldn’t help but feel a little relieved that the matchmaking attempts would be halved for the day. Or at least she hoped.

 

***

 

Lizzie smiled as Jane and Gigi tossed the Frisbee to each other. Bing had organised a picnic at Central Park and they had spent their time in the morning just wandering aimlessly around the city. It had been pleasant, but still tinged with that awkwardness that Lizzie had come to expect when she was around Darcy. He was nothing but polite, but the easy camaraderie of their time in San Francisco seemed to have died with that frantic phone call from Charlotte.

 

Lizzie was pleased that they could at least be civil to one another. Her mind flicked to that day and she blushed as she recalled Darcy’s not so smooth invitation to the theatre. Did he consider that potential outing as a date? Was he asking her out? Did he still want her back then like he did at Collins and Collins?

 

Lizzie shied away from thinking about it. She smiled at Bing and tried to concentrate on what he was talking about.

 

“Oh dear,” Bing said with a laugh as Jane hooked the Frisbee into a tree. “It looks like Jane needs some pointers. I’ll be back.”

 

Lizzie watched his retreating back with something akin to terror. He had just left her alone with Darcy. She hadn’t been alone with him since that dreadful day back at Pemberly.

 

Now, here they were. Sitting on a picnic blanket in the middle of Central Park. Alone.

 

Darcy cleared his throat. “How is your sister doing?”

 

Lizzie nodded, happy to not have to come up with a topic of conversation. Her mind was disturbingly blank. “She’s better, thank you. She’s still healing. We’ve spent a lot of time reconnecting and getting to know one another better. So much time that she actually insisted that I go visit Jane so that she could have a break from me.”

 

Lizzie laughed lightly at the memory of her sister helping her pack and practically shoving her out the door. Lydia had insisted that she deserved a break after finishing her masters and that she could survive without her for a few weeks. They had then shared a tight hug and Lizzie had promised to ring every night to check in. Lydia had rolled her eyes, but that was contradicted by the pleased smile on her face.

 

“I am glad to hear it,” Darcy told her, watching the affectionate smile grow over her face as she reminisced about her sister. It was both beautiful and haunting to watch. What he wouldn’t give to have her face change like that over him.

 

Lizzie paused in the middle of her contemplation and felt bound to bring up her gratitude again. She had to let him hear from her own lips how grateful she was to him. “But really, like Jane said this morning, our family so grateful for what you did. I know that having to deal with him again couldn’t have been pleasant, so thank you. We can’t thank you enough.”

 

Darcy pulled in a huge breath and felt the uncomfortable sensation of receiving gratitude that he was certain he had not earned. “How could I not have helped, Lizzie? I had the power to expose him months beforehand and I chose not to because of my pride. I thought it beneath me to expose my family’s problems and in doing so I exposed your family to his treachery. I had to help.”

 

Lizzie looked away, feeling a sharp sting in her chest. He had done it out of duty, nothing else.

 

At that point, Lizzie knew that any hope she had had over Darcy still caring for her as more than a friend was in vain. It was a harsh truth to accept, especially when it came on the back of her own realisation. She liked William Darcy. As more than a friend.

 

If only she had figured it out sooner. If only they had spent less time misunderstanding one another and more time actually communicating with one another. If only their timing hadn’t been horrendous.

 

She supposed that now they would always have this awkwardness between them. Which was not ideal considering his best friend and her sister were probably going to get married one day.

 

“Regardless of why you did it, thank you,” Lizzie repeated, feeling the silence settle thickly over them again.

 

“Lizzie,” Darcy began when the silence became too much to bear. Raising her eyes to look at him, Lizzie’s heart began to race at the unknown look that was in his eyes. “I have to-”

 

“You two are totally boring,” interrupted Bing, plonking himself down between them in a huff. “Come and throw the Frisbee with us. I think Jane’s almost got the hang of getting airborne without getting it stuck in a tree.”

 

“I don’t think I’d be much better,” Lizzie confessed, trying not to be too annoyed at the interruption. She liked Bing, she reminded herself. “We never really played Frisbee as kids. Plus Gigi is an athlete with mad hand eye coordination. She’d make me look like a total idiot.”

 

“You could never look like an idiot,” Darcy told her, his eyes still on her.

 

“I give up,” Jane told them with a laugh coming to rest next to her sister. “I don’t think I’ll ever be a champion Frisbee thrower.”

 

“But you were doing so much better,” Gigi encouraged. “Soon you’ll be taking on the world.”

 

“I’ll be content with taking the fashion world by storm, thank you.”

 

“Which is what you will do,” Lizzie assured her proudly.

 

“Definitely,” Bing agreed.

 

As the conversation flowed around them, Lizzie couldn’t help but feel that fate had conspired against her and Darcy in a particularly cruel way.

 

***

 

“I thought we’d head to the conservatory garden and then do some shopping at Saks,” Bing suggested as they strolled through the Vanderbilt gate into the gardens.

 

Lizzie internally snorted. Like she could ever afford a shopping spree at Saks. Instead of creating an awkward scene she remarked. “I’ve always wanted to see the south garden. I’ve heard it’s beautiful.”

 

“It is,” Darcy told her.

 

Gigi grinned, a calculating look on her face. “Well, how about you take Lizzie on a tour while Bing, Jane and I check out the north garden?”

 

“I have only visited it once, Gigi,” Darcy protested, but Gigi had already commandeered both Bing and Jane and was dragging them in the opposite direction.

 

“I feel that I’m ill-suited to be a tour guide,” Darcy told her as he regained his composure, attempting a brief smile in her direction.

 

Lizzie bolstered herself against the awkward and smiled back at him. If he could get attempt civility in the face of embarrassment, then so could she. “Well perhaps we’ll just explore it together then. I don’t have to know everything about a place to appreciate its beauty.”

 

“Shall we?” he ventured, making a sweeping hand gesture to the path in front of them.

 

She couldn’t help but grin at his old timey manners. “We shall.”

 

Walking side by side, Lizzie kept sneaking furtive glances his way. What was he thinking? Was he embarrassed by his sister’s blatant matchmaking attempts? Annoyed? Grateful?

 

She shook her head at the idea of him being grateful for some time alone with her. His complete lack of contact with her in the previous months, plus his admission of only helping Lydia because it was the right thing to do made it pretty clear how he felt about her now.

 

She couldn’t blame him, but she did feel a deep ache of regret. What type of man could listen to hours of her lambasting his every flaw – which she then broadcast for thousands of people to see – and still love her?

 

Not any man she knew of.

 

“So… how are you enjoying your trip to New York?” he asked politely.

 

She smiled weakly at him. “It’s been fun. A little… surprising, but fun.”

 

“Ah,” he said, clearing his throat. “I’m sorry that we took you by surprise. If I’d have known that you were here, we would not have come.”

 

Lizzie felt her stomach plummet to the depths of her feet and the most crippling mortification raced through her. She was that horrendous to him now that he was actively trying to avoid her? For a moment she felt like she might burst into tears. She barely had the composure to make any sort of response at all. “Oh.”

 

Hearing her tone, Darcy looked at her and quickly realised what his statement sounded like. He had just meant that he would not have intruded on her time with her sister and now she looked mortally offended.

 

“No, Lizzie that’s not-”

 

Lizzie’s phone chose that moment to start ringing and she was eternally grateful to whoever was on the other line. She didn’t even care who it was, she just knew that she would love them forever for saving her from this situation. She scrambled for her phone in her coat pocket.

 

“That’s not what I…” but she had already turned away, phone to her ear. “…meant.”

 

Darcy closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, his head hanging low. Good grief. He really was socially defunct. The last thing he had wanted to do was make her think that he didn’t want her around. He wanted her near him, always.

 

Lizzie blinked back tears as she strode away from Darcy for some privacy. It turned out to be the bank, wanting her email address so that she could print out some forms to sign for her loan. Lizzie gave him her email and then asked a few clarifying questions that she hadn’t had the presence of mind to ask the night before. She was glad she had written them down and stuck them in her jeans pocket for such an occasion.

 

Truth be told, she stayed on the phone for longer than was really necessary, but the length of time was needed for her composure. By the time she’d let the manager off the phone, she saw Bing, Jane and Gigi had re-joined Darcy and were headed her way.

 

“Sorry,” she said, getting off the bench seat and looking anywhere but at Darcy. “Important phone call.”

 

She noticed Darcy trying to catch her eye, but steadfastly refused to look in his direction.

 

“So…” Bing asked, “You ready for Saks?”

 

Lizzie shrugged and placed herself next to her sister, taking hold of her arm. There, she thought, that ought to ward off any attempts from Gigi to throw her and Darcy together. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

 

***


	5. To Let Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Apologies and midnight snacks.

 

***

 

Lizzie Bennet couldn’t sleep. This was not a new revelation to her, as she’d been rolling about in her bed trying to find a comfortable position for the past three hours. She knew it wasn’t her position; instead it was all the activity in her brain making it impossible for her to sleep.

 

She couldn’t get Darcy’s words out of her head. Try as she might they rebounded around inside her head. She supposed they wouldn’t leave until she’d processed them.

 

He’d vainly attempted to catch a spare moment with her in Saks, but she had valiantly clung to Jane in an effort to block his attempts. She had been mostly successful, until he had encountered her alone in the hallway on her way to dinner. He had appeared by her side before she’d even had time to close the door fully.

 

She supposed his promptness meant that he had been waiting down the hall for her to re-emerge from the bedroom.

 

“I’m sorry,” he had blurted out, sounding less Darcy like than he ever had. Usually his words were carefully considered, rational and calm. He sounded almost panicked when he had spoken to her. “I didn’t mean-”

 

“It’s fine,” she had responded before turning away from him towards the dining room.

 

He had grasped her by the arm and she had halted, shocked by the unexpected touch.

 

“No,” he had insisted. “I didn’t mean that I didn’t want to see you. I meant that we would not have intruded on your time with your sister.” He had released her arm and stared at the floor. “I understand how important family is to you.”

 

“I um-” Lizzie had come to an abrupt halt when Bing had appeared from around the corner.

 

“Come on guys, soup’s on!”

 

Lizzie couldn’t even bring herself to be mad at Bing for the interruption, because – truth be told – she had no idea how she would have responded to that.

 

And now… things were even more awkward than ever. They had spent the entire time during dinner avoiding looking at one another or speaking to one another.

 

She sighed. Everything was such a fucking mess.

 

She felt tears prick the corners of her eyes as she contemplated her situation. Never in her life had she felt so completely emotionally confused. Why couldn’t things just be simple?

 

After lying in bed for a few more moments, Lizzie decided to haul herself out of bed and go in search of the fridge. Maybe she could eat her feelings and finally get some rest. She was doing herself no favours by lying around in bed, alone with her thoughts.

 

Lizzie shivered as she trudged her way across the cold kitchen floor. She had forgone the traditional flannel pyjama route in favour of shorts and a singlet because the heating worked a bit too well in her room.

 

Opening the fridge, she stared at the contents, realising that in the midst of her turmoil, there was actually nothing she felt like eating. The thought of food bored her. Her shoulders slumped as her idea to distract herself went down the drain.

 

She decided to stare at the contents for a while longer, hoping the sight of them would inspire hunger.

 

“Midnight snack?” a deep voice rumbled from behind her.

 

Spinning, Lizzie caught sight of Darcy, half outlined by the light of the open fridge. Apparently Darcy slept in boxer shorts (though whether they were worth $5000 was another matter entirely). Boxer shorts and nothing else, judging from her view of his shirtless chest. George Wickham was not the only person with killer abs, she observed. Glad for the cool radiating from the open fridge, Lizzie looked away in an attempt to control the flush that had broken out over her skin.

 

She cleared her throat. “Couldn’t sleep. Thought that maybe the fridge would be therapeutic or something.”

 

“I admit I can not sleep either.”

 

“Do you want some…” Lizzie glanced down at what she had randomly pulled out of the fridge. “Caviar? Seriously? He has caviar?”

 

Darcy moved over to stand beside her, looking down at the jar in her hand. “I must confess that I have never acquired a taste for caviar.”

 

“Shh, Darcy. They’ll kick you out of your country club if they hear you say that.”

 

Darcy let out a laugh and in her shock at hearing it, Lizzie completely forgot herself and smiled up at him. She had never heard him laugh before and the sound was as equally entrancing as it was foreign. It thrilled her to no end that she had inspired that from him.

 

He laughed with boyish abandon, she noted. Head tipped back, crow’s feet in the corners of his eyes and teeth showing. He was, she admitted to herself, absolutely beautiful. She tried to pretend that it didn’t matter that she had realised it too late, now that he was fully out of her reach.

 

His amusement subsided and his gaze turned to hers. It was then that she noticed his proximity and stiffened slightly, the heat from his nearness overpowering the coldness from the fridge.

 

Their eyes locked and neither he nor Lizzie made any attempt to move away. Lizzie felt her often squashed hopes rise up in her chest and take flight as the intimacy of the moment grew between them. Lizzie couldn’t help but feel that maybe, after all, there was still something there on his side.

 

Reaching out, Darcy gently tugged the jar of caviar from Lizzie’s slackening grasp.

 

“Wouldn’t want it getting warm,” he murmured, tucking it into an open spot in the fridge door. Lizzie was glad for the dark of the night to hide the hot glow of her cheeks as her insides burned with private mortification. She was once again misreading the situation and projecting her desires onto him.

 

Was this what she had put him through all those months ago? Did she send out signals that he misread, only to have her slam down on his hopes and dreams with the force of a falling anvil? Was this karmic retribution?

 

Some days, Lizzie Bennet wished that she had never heard the name, William Darcy.

 

Stepping towards him, Lizzie moved out of the way of the fridge door’s path and moved to shut the door, ignoring the brush of her arm against his stomach as best she could.

 

As the door swung shut, Darcy’s hand reached out and grasped her upper arm firmly, pulling her into his chest. A startled cry sprang from her lips as his mouth covered hers. His lips moved insistently against hers and she was too caught up in disbelief and joy to respond properly.

 

After a moment’s stiffness, Lizzie reacted. Grasping his neck, she raised herself up onto the balls of her feet and moved her lips against his. Their tongues slid together and she felt his deep moan vibrate through her.

 

She matched him move for move as they grappled their way over to the bench, the moonlight and microwave light their only guides in the dark kitchen.

 

A joy so sharp and so fierce sprang up in her chest that it nearly took her breath away. It battled for prominence with her lust as she tried to decide whether she was happier or hornier.

 

In the end it didn’t matter.

 

All that mattered was that William Darcy had her in his arms and was kissing her like he was a drowning man and she was oxygen.

 

Back in the earlier days of her acquaintance with him, Lizzie had always wondered if Darcy would ever be able to push past his reserve to actually have intercourse, let alone show unrestrained passion. She was pleased to note that she was entirely wrong on that front.

 

So, so _wrong_.

 

Like everything he did in his life (aside from dance) William Darcy gave his all.

 

Hoisting her up onto the bench, he stepped between her legs, his mouth reclaiming hers and she wrapped her legs around his back, cradling him between her thighs.

 

She felt something the size of a bat flutter in her stomach at the first contact of his growing bulge against her.

 

Her actions grew more frenzied, more rushed as his hands moved their way across her body. She needed him, more desperately than anything she’d ever felt in her life.

 

It was when his hands slid under the waist band of her shorts that she remembered herself and her personal decree when it came to sex.

 

“Protection,” she managed to gasp out, halting his actions.

 

“Dammit,” he grunted, a look of tortured anguish crossing his face. Lizzie felt like crying. Had neither of them really not brought any? Darcy stiffened after a moment in which the only sounds they could hear were the heavy breathing from both of them. A smile broke out across his face.

 

“Wait here,” he pleaded, praying like hell that she would wait for him to return.

 

Lizzie breathed deeply, her mind a whirl. What in the hell was she doing? And why in the hell wasn’t she more freaked out about her plans to have sex with Darcy? She snorted in amusement at the idea that she didn’t care. All that mattered to her was that Darcy had kissed her, touched her and wanted to go even further. Anything, she thought, anything to ease this burning ache inside of her.

 

Her heart quickened as she saw his return. She could have cried with joy when she saw the square foil packet in his hand.

 

“Bing supplies these for his guests,” he told her as stopped in front of her, no longer sure if she still wanted him. He hesitated in touching her, his uncertainty and recollection of his previous attempt at winning her over taking over his brain.

 

Smiling, Lizzie grabbed him by the arms and pulled him into her, till they were pressed tightly to one another. “Creepy.”

 

Darcy couldn’t contain the overjoyed grin that spread across his face. “Agreed, but Bing says-”

 

Lizzie cut him off mid-sentence by cupping his jaw and pressing her lips to his. “Stop talking about Bing,” she breathed.

 

“Ok.”

 

His lips returned to hers like a strong magnetic force. She was his true north.

 

It was the little things that Darcy couldn’t comprehend. Like how her trailing her fingers down his back could feel so monumentally arousing, or how her could inspire a gasp from her wicked mouth just from a faint brush of his hand across her breast.

 

More than that, he couldn’t comprehend that they were here. Together. In this situation. His hands shook as he dragged the tank over her head and feasted his eyes on her in the dim moonlight.

 

Her warmth pervaded his very soul until he felt totally consumed by her. By her fire, by her passion. She was all encompassing.

 

But it was the moment after all the clothes had been shed, the condom opened and rolled onto him that completely blew his mind. It was when Lizzie Bennet had looked at him (at _him_ ) with such wonder and trust in her eyes and told him that she was ready for him.

 

She was ready for _him_.

 

Finally. After months of torture, pain and anguish, it had come to this point.

 

She cried out into his mouth as he pushed into her. Wrenching her mouth free from his, she looked into his eyes as she adjusted to his girth inside her. The dim light meant that she could just make out the look of awe and disbelief on his face. Tightening her legs around his back, Lizzie drew him further within her. Darcy shivered, his hands tightening their grip on her back as he moved inexorably deeper.

 

He let out a sigh of relief when he was housed inside her as deep as he could go. She understood the sentiment for she felt a very similar one to it herself. After all that time, pining and waiting and miscommunicating, they had finally made it. There was no turning back from this point forward. This wasn’t a spur of the moment make out session that could be twisted into a mistake, this was something they couldn’t misunderstand.

 

Looping one arm around his neck and intertwining her fingers with his that were resting on her hip, Lizzie rolled her hips slightly to indicate that she was ready. Nodding in understanding, Darcy began to slowly withdraw. Lizzie felt the loss keenly, but was soon gasping as he filled her, over and over again.

 

Hands grasped and clung, tongues and lips met and danced and hot, heady breath mingled. They moved together primally, unaware of how much time had passed or anything beyond themselves.

 

How he managed to hold back for so long, Darcy had no idea, but he refused to fall over the edge before she did. He assumed it was just willpower and the idea that this was about her pleasure, not his, that delayed the inevitable.

 

Her gasped choke in his ear and strangled cry of his name, proved to be his undoing and he followed her over the edge.

 

With one last shudder, he rested his head on her shoulder, pressing into the gentle curve of her neck. “I love you,” he whispered hoarsely, the words seemingly escaping from a very raw place in his soul.

 

Tears sprang to Lizzie’s eyes and she felt her inner world shift to make way for this new realisation. She loved him too. So very much.

 

The joy was so uplifting, the feeling so overpowering that she was unable to stop herself from whispering back, “I love you, too.”

 

She felt his relieved and overwrought gasp and absorbed more of his weight as the tension drained out of him. His hands gripped the soft flesh of her back and pulled her in tighter to his embrace. He couldn’t get close enough to her.

 

“William,” Lizzie whispered, feeling him smile into her skin at the sound of his first name from her lips. “It’s getting cold.”

 

His hands drifted up her back and tangled themselves into her hair as he kissed her. Unlike the desperate heat of the previous kisses, this one was gentler and softer. A kiss of devotion, rather than passion.

 

“We can’t have you getting cold, can we?” he smirked, lifting her up without warning and walking her swiftly towards his room.

 

“I’ll return shortly,” he promised after he had deposited her gently on the bed. She took this moment to survey his room. Not a thing out of place, just as she suspected. She looked forward to bringing some much needed chaos to his life. She paused for a moment as she surveyed herself in the mirror. Cheeks flushed, eyes bright, hair mussed and an unfamiliar look on her face, Lizzie Bennet didn’t know herself anymore. But she liked who she saw looking back. That person looked… happy. Lizzie 2.0 certainly knew how to embrace the unknown.

 

It may not have been Darcy’s bedroom per se, but she still enjoyed the feeling of being entitled to be in a room meant for him. To be able to slide under the covers and wait for him to return was a heady rush that she certainly hadn’t anticipated a little over an hour ago.

 

Smoothing the covers with her hands, she idly wondered where he had gotten to. He wasn’t the type to run off and text all of his friends that he had gotten laid, so it must have been something important to keep him from her side. His reasons for leaving soon became clear when he returned with her pyjamas clutched in his hands.

 

“It took a while to find your shirt. I was a bit… enthusiastic and it made its way under the kitchen table.  I think we’d both look a tad suspect in the morning if our friends woke to these strewn around the kitchen,” he told her with a becoming blush.

 

“Agreed,” she replied as she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him down to the bed. He scooted under the covers and opened his arms to her in invitation. Without hesitation she rolled into his arms and felt something foreign settle into her soul. She wasn’t sure if it was joy, pure happiness, excitement, contentment or a peculiar mixture of all four, but she did know that it was a welcome feeling. “I think we should keep this a secret for a while.”

 

She felt him stiffen beneath her and she reached out in the darkness to stroke his face. “No, that’s not what I meant. I’m not ashamed of you; I just want us to have this to ourselves for a while without people butting in. I’ve had an entire year of my life put up for scrutiny. I just want this to be ours for a while.” She paused and groaned. “God, can you imagine my mother? Do you really want to be bombarded straight away with questions of whether you’d like a spring, fall or summer wedding?”

 

She heard him laugh lightly in response and felt him relax. “Personally, I say we buck tradition and have a winter wedding.”

 

“William,” she scolded, “If you tell my mother any preference over marriage, weddings, babies or anything, I will throw you through a plate glass window.”

 

“You could try. I doubt with your small frame that you’d be successful.”

 

“Yeah, you’re pretty beefy. Maybe that wouldn’t work.”

 

He let out a reluctant sigh. “I also concede your point on not telling others. I wouldn’t want Fitz and Gigi to feel like they had anything to do with what happened tonight. Their gloating would be insufferable.”

 

Rolling on top of him, Lizzie peered down at him in the darkness and sought his lips out for a kiss. Breaking contact, she sighed as his hands roamed over the soft planes and curves of her body. “You’re right. We would never hear the end of it. However, I think we should stop talking and put our mouths to better uses. What do you think?”

 

She felt his grip on her tighten almost imperceptibly. “Very well. On one condition though.”

 

“That condition being?” she asked him archly, trying not shiver as his hands cupped her breasts and traced a thumb over a pebbled nipple.

 

“That you wear that red bra tomorrow. It haunted my dreams last night and I have to have some closure.”

 

With a laugh and a whispered, “Deal,” Lizzie soon lost track of where she began and Darcy ended. It was, without a doubt, the best night of her life.

 

 

***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A wild sexy time appears!
> 
> So... yeah. That happened. I promised face smushing (and other varieties of smushing) so I've discharged my debt. Hopefully this works for you (because the idea of a mad with lust Darcy works for me).
> 
> I'm posting this while I'm really tired so... I'll probably come back and edit the majority of the mistakes later.
> 
> Oh god, be gentle. I haven't written about sexy times in a very long time.


	6. I'm Holding A Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sexy times and trolling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your comments and kudos (kudoses? kudos'? Meh, feck it). Sexy times are always a big worry for me, but once I get the first one out of the way in a fic, I'm usually much less stressed. But your response to it really made my day.
> 
> Anywho, it's time for Team Figi to be on the other end of some plotting. Also, Team Lydia & Lizzie, because I love the idea of them being close.
> 
> I do have a complaint though, in this part I wrote, "Lizzie's bare arms" and MS Word tried to change it to "Lizzie's bear arms". I was all, what the hell Word? That's super insulting. You haven't even seen her arms, how would you know?

 

***

 

Lizzie woke to the strangest feeling. Something was tickling her, moving persistently up her spine. She went to roll away from the sensation but found herself stuck as two large hands spanned her waist.

 

“Morning,” was the husky greeting whispered in her ear. Lizzie felt joy bloom inside her and sleep was quite suddenly a thing of the past.

 

“Morning,” she whispered back, letting out a small whimper when his lips returned to his previous task of tracing along her backbone.

 

“Now this is a wakeup call,” she murmured, curling her toes as his hands roamed across waist. “What time is it?”

 

“Half past four,” he muttered. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t wait any longer for you to be awake.”

 

Lizzie let out a half hum-half laugh at his eagerness. “Are you always this awake at this hour?”

 

“No. Typically speaking I sleep until 6 most mornings. This morning I had an added incentive to wake up early.”

 

Lizzie grinned into the crook of the elbow she was resting her head on. “We haven’t gotten much sleep,” she observed.

 

“I’m not overly bothered,” he countered, his heated breath hitting the small of her back sending shivers up her spine. “Are you?”

 

Rolling over, Lizzie’s hands sought out his frame in the dark. “I can be persuaded not to care.”

 

This time when they made love there was an element of sweet sleepiness to it. Their actions were unhurried. Gentle. Reverent.

 

It was like they had all the time in the world.

 

When they came together, a mess of shuddering, tangled limbs, it was different than it was before. It wasn’t a frenzied explosion of pent up feelings, it was an exploration of those feelings.

 

Without the mad need driving them, they found that there was something deeper than sexual tension and chemistry. Something that would last the distance.

 

William Darcy learned that there was nothing more fulfilling than the unconscious clenching of Lizzie Bennet’s fingers into the skin of his back as he moved within her.

 

Lizzie Bennet learned that watching William Darcy’s face contort as he hit his peak was almost as satisfying as the pleasure he gave her.

 

She told him as much when they were both sweaty and spent, her head resting on his chest, his arms locked around her body.

 

“I dislike climaxing,” he informed her. “It contorts the face.”

 

She just about choked on her own spit as she recognised her own words coming back to bite her in the ass.

 

“Glad to rock your world there, Darcy.”

 

He smirked arrogantly at her. “I believe it was the other way round.”

 

They laughed together for a moment and then Lizzie groaned when she caught sight of the clock face.

 

“What is it?”

 

“I need to get back to my own bed,” she whispered softly to him. “Jane’s an early riser.”

 

“I dislike the whole secrecy thing even more than I did last night,” he replied, a frown marring his face.

 

Reaching up, Lizzie stroked away the lines that puckered his forehead. “Everyone finding out about us through me leaving your bedroom seems really cheap and crass. Especially when what happened between us was anything but. So we’ll take a couple of days and get to know us as a couple before we bring in anybody else’s opinions. I know it sucks and I hate to leave you right now, believe me, I do. But I think this might be for the best.”

 

Kissing him once more, Lizzie rolled out of the bed and sought out her pyjamas, smiling when she heard his annoyed groan.

 

“I’ll see you at breakfast,” she murmured before closing the door behind her. Making her way down the cool hallway, she shivered from the loss of warmth. William was like her own personal furnace and without his heat she certainly felt the cold.

 

Clambering in between the cool sheets, she shivered. Despite her fatigue, she had a feeling that she wouldn’t be getting much sleep in the remaining hours she had left. The bed was too big, too cold, too empty.

 

Well. This sucked.

 

 

***

 

“Darcy… are you wearing pyjamas down to breakfast?” Fitz asked, totally aghast at what he was seeing. “What the hell? You’re rocking my world here, Darce.”

 

“What can I say?” Darcy replied disinterestedly, his eyes flicking to Lizzie with a pointed look as he sat down opposite her. “I’m a rocker of worlds.”

 

Lizzie bit her lip and stared at anything but him. Who knew that he could be such a tease?

 

“How did you sleep, Lizzie?” he enquired, a slight quirk to his lips as he asked the question.

 

“Just fine,” she replied, as sedately as she could. “Though I was a bit cold this morning.”

 

“Oh?”

 

She shook her head. “Yeah, I couldn’t seem to get warm. Strangest thing.”

 

“Do you need more blankets, Lizzie? We have a wide selection in our linen closet.”

 

Lizzie smiled brightly at Bing. “No, it’s ok, Bing. I managed to get warm again after a while.”

 

Lizzie felt relieved when the conversation turned to anything other than her sleeping arrangements. Gigi was looking at her with a suspicious look on her face and the last thing she wanted to do now was to arouse the suspicions of the youngest Darcy.

 

With everyone seated at the table, Lizzie felt safe in reaching out with her foot and resting it against his ankle. If Darcy was surprised by her questing foot, he showed no sign of it beyond a blink and a twitch in the left corner of his mouth.

 

Lizzie smiled down at her toast when she felt his other foot move to rest against the other side of her ankle. It was strangely exciting and comforting feeling his large feet cocoon hers while doing something as domestic as eating breakfast together.

 

She shivered as his feet began to slowly slide against hers, his feet caressing hers gently.

 

She was amazed at his self-control. There she was engaging in what was essentially foot sex with William Darcy and he was eating breakfast like nothing untoward was happening.

 

“You ok?” Gigi asked, staring at Lizzie’s bare arms. “Do you need a pullover or something? You’ve got goosebumps.”

 

“No, no, I’m fine. Someone just walked over my grave,” Lizzie replied, shifting in her seat when William traced his big toe down the middle of her foot.

 

Annoyed by the knowing smirk he sent her across the table, Lizzie decided to up the ante. With her unmolested foot, Lizzie lifted her leg and slowly slid it along his inner thigh.

 

Darcy dropped his spoon into his bowl with a large clack and jumped out of his seat.

 

“You ok, Darce?” Fitz asked, looking at his friend in concern.

 

“I just remembered that I have an important phone call that I need to make. Please, excuse me.”

 

He dashed from the room and Lizzie smirked down at her plate again.

 

“Well, that was weird,” Gigi commented watching her brother’s retreating form.

 

“Sure was,” Fitz replied, his brows drawing together.

 

Lizzie merely grinned down at her toast.

 

 

***

 

Lizzie trudged into the bathroom, carrying her towel, clothes and other essentials that she needed for the day.

 

She closed the door and sighed, a smile taking over her face as she let herself recall the previous night’s events. She was in a relationship with William Darcy.

 

She frowned slightly as she realised that neither of them had classified it yet, but surely telling each other that they loved one another and making love meant that it was pretty clear.

 

Lizzie was so lost in her own thoughts that she almost didn’t hear the bathroom door open.

 

Spinning around, Lizzie’s smile increased tenfold when she saw that it was Darcy entering the bathroom. With a wolfish grin, he flicked the lock and then stared at her.

 

“That was a dirty trick,” he commented.

 

“What was?” Lizzie asked breathlessly as he invaded her space and backed her up until she was leaning up against the bathroom counter.

 

“This morning at breakfast,” he murmured heatedly into her ear.

 

“Oh.”

 

“Yes, oh.”

 

“To be fair, I just wanted to have foot snuggles, you’re the one who turned it into foot sex. I was just following your lead,” she replied, watching his chest rise and fall as his hands traced her back.

 

Darcy hoisted her up onto the counter, his hands sliding down her waist. “I don’t think that foot sex is a real thing.”

 

“Tell that to the foot fetishists… oh God!” Lizzie lost all train of thought when his hands migrated south of the border.

 

“I’ll shelve any plans for discussing things with foot fetishists for a later date,” Darcy told her, his fingers moving rhythmically against her.

 

With his free hand, Darcy divested her of her clothes and then pulled her off the bench. “Time to get clean, dirty girl.”

 

Lizzie smiled dazedly at him. “Only if we can get dirty first.”

 

He grinned at her. “It’s like you read my mind.”

 

 

***

 

So far, Lizzie had been shoved into the seat next to Darcy on the ride to the Empire State Building, as well as abandoned on the observation deck with him.

 

“Subtlety is really not their forte,” Lizzie confided in Will as she watched both Fitz and Gigi pull Jane and Bing away under the guise of, “seeing something really cool”.

 

“I think they were both about to hit you when you asked if you could come see it too,” he told her with a laugh.

 

Lizzie wandered over to a spare pair of binoculars and inserted a coin.

 

“What can you see?” he asked, leaning against the concrete partition.

 

“Something really cool,” she said snarkily.

 

“Can I see?” he asked, smothering a laugh.

 

“No.”

 

“No? Why not?”

 

“Because convoluted matchmaking plan, that’s why.”

 

Darcy raised an eyebrow at her. “It was hardly convoluted. In fact, I’d call it simplistic at best.”

 

Lizzie shook her head at him as she looked up. “Don’t worry, they’re building up to something convoluted.”

 

Darcy shook his head. “The most convoluted plan they could possibly come up with would probably involve us being locked in a room together. Which, come to think of it, wouldn’t be that bad.”

 

“At least we’d have a little privacy,” she conceded. “I don’t know why they think we’ll jump each other in public places. Really, like we’re just going to make out in front of all these people on the observation deck.”

 

“I could be persuaded to,” he admitted. At her surprised, incredulous look, he explained, “Your kisses appear to have addictive qualities. I don’t seem to mind much how I get them, so long as I do.”

 

Lizzie’s mouth parted slightly as a thousand different emotions cartwheeled through her. She drew closer to him and almost forgot where they were. Almost forgot that they were keeping their relationship private. Almost forgot everything but the understanding that she needed to kiss William Darcy. Really, after a statement like that, he needed to be rewarded.

 

“Bing and Jane are coming back,” he murmured, halting her movements toward him.

 

“Cockblockers,” muttered Lizzie darkly. Her mood suddenly turned foul and unforgiving. God help the poor person who got in the way of kisses with William Darcy.

 

He snickered at her. “If it’s any consolation, Fitz and Gigi look almost as mad as you do.”

 

“Not anything remotely resembling a consolation. Thank god I can sneak into your room tonight. That is the only thing keeping me going.”

 

“I understand the sentiment entirely,” he murmured, raising his hand in greeting to both Bing and Jane.

 

“Discover anything exciting, Lizzie?” Bing enquired. “Those binoculars can reveal some pretty cool stuff.”

 

“Oh yes,” she replied, not daring to look at her boyfriend. “Some very exciting and revealing stuff.”

 

Gigi and Fitz had apparently gotten past their dirty moods and recovered enough to re-join them and start dropping not so subtle hints. “I forgot to ask, Lizzie, you’re not afraid of heights are you? Because if you are… I’m sure a certain Darcy would be more than happy to give you a shoulder to lean on.”

 

“Thanks for the offer, Gigi,” Lizzie told her, “but I only like you as a friend.”

 

Fitz let out a long belly laugh and got sent a look from Gigi that clearly communicated to him what she thought of his traitorous actions.

 

Lizzie rolled her eyes at the two of them and elaborated. “I’m fine, thank you Gigi. I’ve never had a problem with heights before, I’m not about to go and develop a complex now.”

 

“How’s your trip to New York been so far, Lizzie B?” Fitz enquired, clearly trying to improve his wingman status. “Would you say it’s been… illuminating?”

 

“What time do we have to be back at the car?” Darcy asked, interrupting their blatant attempts to match-make. He wasn’t so sure about their methods, if he and Lizzie weren’t already intimate, making embarrassing innuendo and references to old flirtations certainly wouldn’t have helped them any.

 

“Right now,” groaned Bing, looking at his watch. “We’d better head back down, guys.”

 

As they herded themselves towards the elevators, Darcy felt a sharp pinch from Gigi in his side. He ignored her anger and smirked to himself. He had been much more successful in his overtures to Lizzie than any attempts on his behalf. Were he the gloating kind, he might have felt the urge to tell her this, but he restrained himself, just barely.

 

He did however, secretly smile to himself when he found himself sitting next to Lizzie at lunch, in the car and at dinner. And as her hand slid into his after dinner under the cover of the table and her thumb traced over his while they waited for dessert, it only made Gigi’s frustration at his apparent romantic ineptness all the more enjoyable.

 

 

***

 

“Oh thank God,” he breathed as the door to his bedroom opened and Lizzie flung herself quickly into his bedroom. It was after dinner and both Bing and Jane had retired earlier as they all had to be up early in the morning. He himself had retired half an hour beforehand. And while they had agreed to give each other 30 minute intervals before following each other up to bed, the wait proved to be almost unbearable.

 

Crossing the room, his hands dove into her hair and he pulled her into a fevered kiss. They stumbled their way over to the bed and fell onto it, their hands grasping and pulling blindly at each other’s clothing.

 

“I’ve been wanting to do this all day,” he gasped as she kissed her way down his neck.

 

“This,” she grunted, tugging at his shirt. “Off.”

 

Darcy made no comment on her sudden inability to construct sentences and quickly complied with her request.

 

There was not a lot of gentleness to their fevered lovemaking, but there was a tremendous amount of love. She could feel it in the firmness and passion of his touch. He could hear it in the gasping sob of his name as she clenched around him.

 

They both lay there together for a long while, silent and intertwined. Her hands traced patterns on his chest as his fingers mapped out the soft skin of her back.

 

It was the happiest either of them could ever imagine being.

 

Lizzie groaned as her phone rang. Pulling away from Will she groped blindly on the nightstand for it.

 

“Lydia,” she said as she looked at the screen, answering his unspoken question.

 

Will rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. Had it been any other person (except perhaps Jane or Charlotte) he knew that he could have convinced her to ignore it. He watched as she answered it and waited for her to move away from him to have her conversation in private.

 

His heart did a slow roll when he noticed her shifting onto her back and getting more comfortable where she was. It pleased him no end that she wasn’t moving away from him, that she would share her life with him, in all its entirety. That she would feel so comfortable with him that she would have a private conversation in front of him, like he belonged in her world without question.

 

“Hey there you,” she began, interlocking the fingers of her free hand with Will’s.

 

“Hey, I began to think that you had died of cyanide poisoning.”

 

Lizzie raised her eyebrows. “Cyanide poisoning? That’s fairly specific.”

 

She could practically hear the eyeroll from across the country. “It was the first thing that came to mind. Anyways, why didn’t you call at ten like you _always_ do? Not that I’m complaining or anything, because really, a girl needs some spontaneity now and then.”

 

Lizzie grinned, looking to her left at Will. She could definitely get behind spontaneity. “Sorry, I just got a bit… distracted.”

 

“Oh really,” intoned Lydia saucily. “Distracted by a certain rich, hot, single robot who is totes hot for your bod, maybe?”

 

Blushing at Lydia’s description, Lizzie bit her lip. “Umm, yeah?”

 

“What?” asked Lydia, the teasing tone replaced by confusion. “Say what now?”

 

Lizzie grinned sheepishly at her phone in anticipation of Lydia’s reaction. “Um, yeah. That is what happened.”

 

“You were distracted by Darcy?” repeated Lydia, not quite believing what she was hearing.

 

Lizzie smiled shyly over at him, and asked her sister, “Can you keep a secret?”

 

“I am the keeper of all things secret,” Lydia replied solemnly.

 

“We kinda hooked up and now we’re secretly dating, I guess?”

 

A loud piercing scream filled Lizzie’s ear, and Will stiffened on the bed, a look of confused fear on his face.

 

“You and Darcy?! Oh my god, this is totes the craziest thing ever! How did it happen?”

 

“We were in the kitchen…” Lizzie began.

 

“And he offered you a bite of his salami?” Lydia suggested, her saucy tone back with a vengeance.

 

“Ok, no.” Lizzie paused to let Lydia laugh. “We were in the kitchen at around one in the morning and… we made out.”

 

“And now you’re binging like crazy?”

 

Lizzie grimaced in tandem with Will. “That really has to stop. Like yesterday.”

 

Lizzie could practically hear the excitement in Lydia’s voice. She could tell that her sister was happy for her and it made her heart constrict tightly. “You’re right, that is Bing’s word anyway. Maybe we can come up with a different one for Darcy. How about… robo-nated? Lobsterised? Newsied?”

 

Lizzie’s eyes widened in disbelief. None of those terms were appropriate for the mind-blowing lovemaking she and Will engaged in. “How about none of those?”

 

Lydia squealed, a sound of true happiness. “Oh my god! I can’t believe you and Darcy actually managed to pull your heads out of your asses and hook up! I can’t even imagine Charlotte’s reaction. What did she say?”

 

Lizzie blinked. She hadn’t even thought to call Charlotte and tell her. Not yet anyway. “I haven’t told her yet.”

 

There was a slight pause.

 

“Oh, so what did Jane say?”

 

“I haven’t told her either.”

 

There was a longer pause.

 

A more subdued Lydia asked quietly, “Who actually knows about this?”

 

“Well, there’s me, Darcy and now… you. We’re keeping it a secret until we’re ready to tell people.”

 

“I’m the first person you told?” Lydia asked, a quiver escaping her voice despite her best efforts to hold it back. “Not your bestie or your go-to sister?”

 

“I wanted to tell you first,” Lizzie admitted, feeling her own eyes well up as she realised how much this meant to her little sister. What had been a spur of the moment decision for her had translated to a much deeper sisterly moment than she could ever have predicted. “You on board for some trolling?”

 

“Heck yeah!” Lydia cried out, her voice still thick with unshed tears. “Who are we trolling?”

 

Lizzie smiled shakily as Will squeezed her hand at the sight of her watery eyes. “Mainly Fitz and Gigi, who, as you know, are still matchmaking like fiends.”

 

“You’re so twisted. I _love_ it! Is Darceburgers there with you right now?”

 

“Yes,” she admitted. “We’re lying on his bed.”

 

“Hi Darce! Woo, go you mad newsie! Get you some Lizzie!”

 

“Hello Lydia,” Darcy replied, laughing in spite of his embarrassment.

 

Lizzie’s smile softened as she watched him. He really had changed. He was so much more willing to laugh at himself and to be laughed at. He didn’t just tolerate Lydia because she was her sister, he actively enjoyed her exuberance and spirit. The thought of Darcy enduring the affectionate teasing of her younger sister made her heart squeeze tightly in her chest. It was a beautiful sight to behold.

 

“Ok, so… how are we going to troll those two? I’m guessing this is payback for the lame ass ostrich and llama code name plan thingy?”

 

“I believe it was eagle and tiger,” she corrected.

 

“Whatevs. I approve of the plan they carried out, not the code names.”

 

“Well in any case, any ideas as to how we can torture these two?”

 

There was a slight pause as Lydia took a moment to think. “Act really sad and disinterested in each other and then let them be the last to know? I think letting them think that all their plotting is failing would be the best way to mess with their heads.”

 

“You’re a genius, Lydia,” Lizzie informed her.

 

“Well duh. Anyway, I’m going to let you get back to molesting ol’ Darcebags. You keep it real, Lizzie.”

 

Lizzie laughed softly. “Love you, Lyd.”

 

“Love you too.”

 

 

***


	7. Here In My Hand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chats and Emails

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, thank you all for your wonderful response, yet again. You guys make my day.

***

 

“So, this is my apartment!” Jane told Lizzie as they wandered through the front door into what appeared to be a closet.

 

Lizzie gazed around and took note of how little personalisation had actually gone into Jane’s apartment. For someone who had spent so much time decorating her room at home, it was shocking to see how little effort had gone into this shoebox. Lizzie assumed it was because she never spent much time here at all.

 

“Am I reading too much into it if I make the comment that I’ve been here for a couple of days and this is the first time I’ve seen it?” Lizzie asked, her tone teasing.

 

Jane sent her a look as she closed the door behind them. “Yes. We simply decided that Bing’s loft was more central to all the tourist destinations. That’s it.”

 

Lizzie grinned wickedly at her. “Not to mention that it comes with its own housekeeper, it’s conveniently enormous and Bing lives there.”

 

Ignoring her sister’s pointed barbs, Jane replied loftily, “We did agree that my flat was not particularly conducive to having a person come stay. Frankly you’d have to sleep on the couch because I don’t have a spare bedroom. Or a spare bed.”

 

Lizzie glanced around the cramped quarters and wandered into the kitchen. “I give it three months or less before you break the lease on this place and move in with Bing.”

 

“Lizzie, that’s not going to happen. We have a deal. I spend at least six months living by myself before we even talk about moving in together.”

 

Lizzie raised an eyebrow at her. “Only six months?”

 

Jane shifted uneasily. “Bing negotiated it down from one year. He was particularly cut throat in his negotiating technique.”

 

“Well, you’re doing a bang up job of sticking to your guns,” Lizzie said over a snicker. “As far as I can tell, you’re living at Bing’s.”

 

Jane rolled her eyes and shepherded her sister towards the bathroom giving her a very brief tour of the place. “No, that’s just while you’re here. I don’t have the space to host guests and I am not leaving my sister at my boyfriend’s place all alone.”

 

Lizzie peered into the tiny bathroom and then shot Jane a suggestive look. “Afraid I’ll try to seduce him?”

 

“I think you have your hands full with Darcy,” Jane commented, watching the shock spread across her sister’s face with smug delight.

 

“What?” Lizzie squeaked.  


“So I didn’t see you kissing him in the kitchen this morning before breakfast?” Jane asked, her tone intentionally light and carefree. “My mistake. Must have been some other tall, rich handsome man.”

 

“You saw that?”

 

Jane smirked at her as she herded her sister towards her bedroom. “Kind of hard not to, especially when he had his hands on your ass.”

 

Lizzie halted in the doorway and spun towards her sister. “Jane!”

 

“What? You experienced it, surely you’re not surprised by it.”

 

Lizzie gaped at her sister, spluttering while her sister simply raised an eyebrow at her. “I’m surprised that you mentioned it! Shouldn’t you be blushing right now? New Jane is bold!”

 

Jane pinned her with a look as they both sat on Jane’s bed. “Stop ducking the question, Lizzie.”

 

“Did you actually ask one?”

 

“Lizzie.”

 

Lizzie huffed and ran her hands through her hair. “Fine. We’re together. We’re keeping it a secret until we’re ready to tell people. You and Lydia know and that’s it.”

 

Jane poked her in the side, beaming at her. “How did you get together?”

 

Lizzie flushed, considering that the story of how they got together was not exactly G rated. “We kissed in the kitchen the night after we went to Central Park.”

 

Jane snickered, “I had no idea that Bing’s kitchen was such a good place to kiss in. I’ll be honest, it doesn’t do that much for me.”

 

“We’ve kissed in other places,” Lizzie huffed defensively, then blanched as she realised the innuendo in that statement. Luckily, Jane took pity on her and didn’t take the opportunity to make the obvious joke.

 

“Have you spoken to Charlotte since it happened?” Jane enquired.

 

“Not yet. She texted me today to tell me that she’s ringing me tonight.”

 

“How long do you think it’ll take her to figure it out?” Jane asked, smoothing the wrinkles out of her bedspread.

 

Lizzie paused in contemplation. “About three minutes… give or take.”

 

“Sometimes I think she’s a ninja,” Jane admitted. “She has pretty amazing deduction skills.”

 

“Very true,” Lizzie agreed, gazing around the bedroom. “So, do you like it here?”

 

“In New York or this apartment?”

 

“Both.”

 

Gazing around her, Jane smiled softly. “I’m glad I moved here. The apartment could be a bit bigger, but I’m really happy with the choices I’ve made.”

 

Lizzie smiled, pleased to see her sister so content. “I’m happy for you, Jane.”

 

Slinging an arm around her sister, Jane pulled her into a hug and whispered, “I’m happy for you, Lizzie.”

 

***

 

It was raining after Lizzie and Jane returned from visiting her apartment. This meant that Bing’s plans for the day had to be shelved and that he was in a bad mood. Or as close to one as he ever got; which roughly translated to him sighing heavily and frowning before suggesting alternative forms of entertainment inside the apartment.

 

Lizzie, for one, was actually glad. It gave her a chance to check her emails and possibly print off those forms that the bank had sent her.

 

“Bing, would it be possible for me to check my emails on your laptop? I’m waiting for an important email.”

 

Bing happily obliged and Lizzie found herself sitting next to Will on the couch – courtesy of team Figi – with Gigi on her right and Fitz on Will’s left, checking her emails with Bing’s _very_ expensive and _very_ fast laptop. As Bing got out his movie collection and asked what everyone would like to watch, Lizzie logged in and located the email she needed and downloaded the attachment.

 

Lizzie’s eyes just about popped out of her head when she looked at the lengthy paperwork she had to fill out in order to receive her loan. And there was so much fine print. She needed to have it in her hands to read it and understand it. And besides that, she couldn’t sign it without a hard copy.

 

“Bing,” she called out from her position on the couch. “Do you have a printer?”

 

Bing looked away from the ensuing argument between Fitz and Gigi over which movie they should watch and turned to her. “Sure. Got something you need to print?”

 

“Yeah, just some forms. You wouldn’t happen to have a fax machine, would you?”

 

At this, both Gigi and Fitz stopped arguing over whether Grease or The Notebook should be watched and focussed in on Lizzie’s conversation; both of them wondering how they could orchestrate this into another matchmaking scenario between Lizzie and Darcy.

 

Bing nodded his head and looked sheepishly at her. “Yeah, but I don’t actually know how to use it.”

 

“That’s ok,” Fitz said, clapping his hand on Darcy’s shoulder. “Darcy here is really good with all that tech stuff. He’ll help you out.”

 

“Oh,” Lizzie said, rising to her feet uncertainly. “I’m sure I could figure it out.”

 

“No,” Will said brusquely, rising to his feet without once glancing her way. “It’s fine. It’ll be quicker if I show you.”

 

Lizzie followed him down the hall, perturbed by the total lack of emotion he was showing her. Had she done something wrong? Was he now regretting what had transpired between them? She shook off that thought and reminded herself that assuming she knew what he was thinking and feeling was what had caused so many of their problems to begin with. She resolved to ask him when they reached the study.

 

As they turned the corner, he turned and smiled at her. “How was that? Did I do alright? I think I convinced them that I was disinterested.”

 

Lizzie snorted at his comical over eagerness and felt relief wash through her. “Your acting is superb. Two thumbs up!”

 

They reached the study and Will busied himself switching on the printer. “So, where are we faxing this form?”

 

“We’re not. At least, not yet. I have to read and sign it. But first I have to print it out and spend roughly the next seven years reading through it so that I can understand it.”

 

“Not even the slightest hint of hyperbole in there,” he commented with a smile.

 

“None whatsoever,” she replied. “Now, be a good boyfriend and print this for me. I can’t be bothered spending minutes trying to work it out.”

 

In handing the laptop to Darcy and turning back to the printer, Lizzie missed the flicker of emotion that infused his features as she casually called him her boyfriend. After months believing it to be impossible, the fact that Lizzie had flippantly referred to him as her boyfriend sent actual shivers down his spine. Of course, being intimate with her had been mindblowing in ways he couldn’t comprehend, but giving it a label made it all seem so much more real. So much more permanent and tangible. A woman like Lizzie didn’t refer to anyone idly as her boyfriend. She certainly hadn’t given George that title.

 

“Good lord, not actual minutes. What an absurd length of time for anyone to spend doing anything,” Darcy teased. He tried desperately to keep his tone light so that it wouldn’t reflect the depth of emotions he was currently feeling.

 

“Precisely, I am very busy and important,” Lizzie replied haughtily.

 

He found the wireless connection for her and pressed print. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the screen, a deep concern festering and growing inside him as he read the page.

 

“Lizzie… is this a form for a loan?”

 

She froze on the spot and slowly turned to him, swallowing before she said, “Yes. I’m taking out a loan.”

 

He opened his mouth and then closed it again, considering what he was going to say. It took him awhile to collect his thoughts with panic beginning to fester inside of him. “Lizzie, if you are in trouble you can always come to me. I hate the thought of you being unhappy, especially if I could help.”

 

She smiled at him indulgently and rolled her eyes. Of course he’d want to fix all of her problems himself, but this time he had asked instead of just fixing it, so that was progress she supposed. “That’s exceptionally sweet, Will, but I’m not in trouble. It’s kinda the opposite. I don’t know if you saw any of my later videos post Pemberly, but-”

 

“I saw all of them,” he blurted out.

 

His sudden confession threw Lizzie for moment. “You did? Wow, um, well in that case you did see me talk about writing about the diaries as a start-up. After I posted the video I had messages from potential investors. This loan is all I need to fully cover the initial costs.”

 

“Lizzie…” he began, his face unreadable, “are you starting your own company?”

 

“Yeah, essentially.”

 

He paused, taking a moment to absorb what she had said while she waited in tense anticipation. She let out a little shriek as he pulled her into his arms without warning.

 

“Lizzie, that is amazing! Congratulations!”

 

She pulled her head back from his chest and looked at him, letting the obvious pride he felt for her wash over her and settle around her. Lizzie felt her stomach dip and contract as his mouth covered hers. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Lizzie pulled him in even closer. She could never get close enough.

 

“Don’t let your investors see how happy you are about another competitor starting up,” she teased when they finally pulled apart.

 

“I hadn’t even thought about that,” he admitted. “I suppose I’ll have to guard all Pemberly’s secrets from you now. Can’t have corporate espionage, now can we?”

 

“I’ll just torture them out of you later,” she said suggestively with a wink.

 

There was a slight pause before Will softly admitted, “It does however get in the way of my plans to have you come work at Pemberly so that you could be in San Francisco with me.”

 

Lizzie traced her fingers over his heart before fiddling with the buttons of his shirt. “Have I dashed your dreams of lunchtime nookie in the supply closets?”

 

He sent her a censorious look. “Have you seen the supply closets at Pemberly? Not enough room at all. I was thinking I’d just lock my office door and clear my desk.”

 

She giggled, pressing her face into his chest.

 

“I haven’t decided where I’m going to start my company yet,” she confessed, watching as a slow grin began to cross his face. It wasn’t an agreement to start up her company in San Francisco, but it sure felt like one. From then on in, Lizzie knew that her search for her company’s headquarters would be in San Francisco.

 

“What’s that?” she asked, hearing a strange shuffling noise coming from down the hallway.

 

Darcy let out a groan, “If I had to guess, I’d say it was Gigi and Fitz coming to check up on us.”

 

“Seriously?” she hissed, lowering her voice as they shuffling drew nearer. “How do they expect us to get together if they keep interrupting all the time? Perhaps you should point out the flaws in their plan.”

 

He smirked at her. “I think that they’re trying not to interrupt us, but rather ensure that they’re on hand to either witness us getting together or put out any potential fires I might cause.”

 

“They really think that you’re that socially inept?”

 

He gave her a pointed look to remind her of their past history. “Around you? Always.”

 

Lizzie smiled at the compliment. She liked the idea that she threw him off balance.

 

Drawing apart, they moved to opposite sides of the room and busied themselves. When Fitz and Gigi peered through the crack of the not quite shut door, they both audibly groaned at the physical distance and the silence between the two of them.

 

“Oh, hey Gigi and Fitz. What are you guys doing?” Lizzie asked casually, pretending to just have noticed them.

 

Sheepishly, Gigi opened the door fully. “We just came to see if you needed any help.”

 

Lizzie shook her head. “No, it appears to be all sorted.”

 

Fitz looked at the paperwork in her hands. “Did you get the fax sent off?”

 

“Not yet, I have to sign the forms first.”

 

Darcy cleared his throat, aware that both Fitz and Gigi were watching and micro-analysing everything they said and did. But despite that, he couldn’t help offering his help. “Would you like me to take a look at them for you, Lizzie?”

 

She sent him a relieved smile. “Yes please! I don’t speak fine print, so I have no idea if I’m selling my unborn children into indentured slavery.”

 

Will held the forms out in front of him and pretended to scan them. “Oh, there it is. Section 3C clause 1A: all unborn children of the recipient shall become property of the bank for a period of no less than 10 years and not exceeding 15 years.”

 

“How did I miss that the first time?” Lizzie giggled, coming to an abrupt halt when she noticed Fitz and Gigi nudging one another and looking at them with shrewd, calculating expressions on their devious faces.

 

“Well, we’ll just leave you two alone then,” Gigi said with a grin, grasping Fitz by the elbow and tugging him towards the door. “Forms can take _hours_ to go through. And look! There’s a desk right there, how convenient. We’ll have the chef send in lunch.”

 

“It’s amazing how much less subtle they’re becoming each day,” Darcy commented once Gigi had left the room.

 

Lizzie nodded, wryly amused. “At some point they’re just going to shove our heads together and make us kiss.”

 

“That will certainly get awkward when we get to the copulation part of the proceedings,” Darcy commented blithely.

 

Lizzie let out a startled shriek of laughter. “William Darcy! That was the most shocking thing I’ve ever heard you say!”

 

“I aim to please,” he told her, snagging the forms from her hands and gesturing to the desk. “Now, let’s read through this. Keeping in mind that Gigi and Fitz might plan a sneak attack to see if we’re getting together.”

 

“Good thing I can lock the door then,” Lizzie told him, winking at him as she moved to the door and turned the lock.

 

Darcy stared at her as he took a seat behind the desk. “Good lord, woman, you’re insatiable.”

 

Lizzie crossed the room and straddled his lap, her arms locking around his neck. “Well, if you have a problem with it, you should stop being so sexy.”

 

“Perfectly logical,” he muttered as he drew her in for a kiss.

 

***


	8. My Own

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sore feet and honesty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lateness of this update, but I had creative constipation (some would call it writer's block, but I like to live on the edge).
> 
> Thank you to everyone again who is reading this. You're all wonderful and made of glitter and sunshine.

***

 

Lizzie’s feet ached. Apparently because of the previous day’s rain, Bing had twice as much to pack into one day. This meant that she had walked what felt like 75 miles in improperly fitting shoes. They had felt fine at the store, but they weren’t made for long distances.

 

She was glad when they had arrived back at the apartment for dinner. She had been tempted to kick her shoes off under the table, but she felt that that would perhaps have been frowned upon considering they were now being served silver service style.

 

It hadn’t been a bad day, just a long one. Lizzie was also antsy because she hadn’t been able to sneak in _any_ time at all with Will. She had been surrounded by people all day and couldn’t even sneak off at one point for some clandestine kissing. It had put her on edge as she now found herself craving his touch and his closeness.

 

She couldn’t even text him as she knew that Gigi had more than once commandeered his phone over the past couple of days. So instead she had vented to Charlotte, as she knew her best-friend-cum-voice-of-reason would listen to her complain and tell her to get over herself whilst offering sympathy.

 

Charlotte had of course needled the truth out of Lizzie about Darcy within about three minutes of speaking to her on the phone. Lizzie had dealt with Charlotte’s smugness at the time and had dealt with it again when Charlotte had told her that all of the day’s stress could have been prevented if she’d merely told everyone about her and Darcy after it had happened. Charlotte considered it just desserts for her trolling ways.

 

“So Lizzie,” Gigi began. “I’ve been thinking, how is your job hunt going? I was talking to Henderson from the digital communications team and as it turns out there is a job that you’d be _perfect_ for.”

 

“Well, I guess now is a good a time as any to make this announcement,” Lizzie declared, putting her knife and fork down. “I don’t need to worry about finding a job. I’m actually starting my own digital media company.”

 

“What?” Gigi demanded, her eyes popping open wide.

 

Lizzie nodded, unable to hide the tentative smile that popped up whenever she thought about what she had achieved. “Yeah, I wrote about my diaries as a start-up and for some strange reason people took me seriously. I have investors and a soon to be bank loan to cover my initial costs.”

 

“Way to go, Lizzie!” Bing cried, gifting her with a warm smile.

 

Fitz pumped his fist in the air. “Wow! Lizzie B! Congratulations! So, you and Darcy are going to be competitors, huh?”

 

“I guess so,” Lizzie replied, picking her knife and fork back up, trying not to blush at the mention of her and Darcy competing. Everything seemed to have taken on a double meaning now that they were… intimately involved.

 

“So, where are you going to be basing yourself, Lizzie?”

 

Lizzie shook her head as she cut into her chicken. “I haven’t decided yet.”

 

Gigi smiled beguilingly at her. “San Francisco happens to be a great spot in which to run a digital media company.”

 

Lizzie snickered internally at Gigi’s lack of subtlety. “You don’t say.”

 

“William, tell Lizzy about all the benefits of working out of San Francisco,” Gigi encouraged, her eyes wide and bright.

 

Darcy kept his gaze downturned so as to not catch Lizzie’s eye. He needed to keep a straight face as he said this and he knew that one look at Lizzie and he’d never be able to manage it. “It’s actually not a prime spot. Los Angeles or New York tend to be better suited for the type of business you’re entering.”

 

Lizzie could have just about died at the look on Gigi’s face. It was simultaneously stricken, panicked and furious. “What? Pemberly Digital is doing really well! How can you say that?”

 

“I’m sure that if Lizzie were to set up business in San Francisco it would do really well. I’m merely pointing out that there are other places which are more suited to what she wants to do. Which is why we have branches in both of those places so that we can reach a better market.”

 

Gigi’s breath came in short pants and her smile looked more like a grimace. “Ignore my dimwitted brother, Lizzie. San Francisco will be all you’re looking for and more, don’t let him put you off.”

 

Lizzie’s mouth twitched as she tried to suppress a grin. “You know, I haven’t actually decided on anything yet.”

 

“Oh, I’ve already decided,” Gigi declared flippantly with a wave of her hand. “You’re coming to San Francisco. Sometimes it’ll be frustrating. Sometimes it’ll be painful. But I promise you’ll never find a place you’ll love more or that’s better suited to you.”

 

Gig’s not so subtle pointed glances at Darcy did not go unnoticed.

 

“Well, I’ll let you know when I’ve made my decision,” Lizzie replied, looking away from Gigi to Fitz.

 

“Your family must be super proud of you, Lizzie B,” Fitz said, smiling at her beatifically. “Were they excited when you told them?”

 

Lizzie grinned at the memory. “They were all pretty amazed and proud. Even my mother’s proud. Of course, not as proud as she would be if I were pregnant…”

 

Jane nodded, an affectionate, indulgent smile forming on her lips. “Mom does want grandbabies.”

 

Lizzie’s voice took on a speculative, ponderous note. “I think having children was actually just a means to an end for her. She never actually wanted the children, just the grandkids.”

 

Lizzie risked a glance at Will while everyone else around her laughed. His daring wink at her caused her stomach to do a backflip. She wasn’t sure if his wink was a conspiratorial, congratulatory wink over how frustrated they’d caused Gigi to become, or if it was a wink at the idea of her being pregnant.

 

Lizzie’s mind shied away from that train of thought, knowing that it would be an extremely dangerous path to tread on, considering they hadn’t even been together for a week.

 

Despite her misgivings, it wasn’t a totally awful thought. A couple of years down the track and she could actually consider it. Her and Will and a baby. A child with the best parts of both of them.

 

The thought brought a smile to her face.

 

“Well, William, it looks like you’ve missed your chance,” commented Gigi, leaving a deliberately long pause. “If you’d have called Lizzie before she mentioned her project on the internet, you might have been able to snap her up for Pemberly. Now she’s gone.”

 

“We live and learn, Gigi,” Will replied noncommittally, seemingly unfussed by his sister’s prods.

 

This one, however, stuck with Lizzie. She had been in a lovestruck haze for the past couple of days, but now the idea had taken root and for the rest of the dinner the thought wouldn’t leave her alone.

 

Why hadn’t he called?

 

***

 

Later that night (after a much needed foot rub and some frenzied activity that had little to do with feet), Lizzie lay next to William staring up at the four poster bed frame, wondering how to broach the topic with him. She wanted to be honest with him, but she didn’t know if she could handle the answer he might give. What if it just hadn’t seemed important for him to call? What if he was actively trying to get over her in that period and was trying to make himself hate her?

 

Lizzie knew that the direction her thoughts were heading were melodramatic and worst case scenario, but she had to inherit some traits from her mother. And nothing sent her into a tailspin like not knowing what was in William Darcy’s head.

 

“Your thoughts are very loud tonight,” Will commented, rolling over onto his side to look at her. “Is something the matter?”

 

“I have a question,” Lizzie admitted.

 

“Alright.”

 

She cleared her throat and picked at the quilt with her fingernails. “It’s a question for you.”

 

His brow creased a little, an amused quirk gracing his lips. “I assumed as much.”

 

“I should probably ask you it.”

 

He nodded with as much seriousness as he could muster. “That would be the only way to be sure of getting an answer.”

 

“I don’t know if I want to know the answer to the question,” she admitted.

 

Reaching over, he tenderly brushed a lock of wayward hair out of her eyes. “You should ask it anyway. Clearly it’s weighing on you and I hate to see you suffering like this.”

 

“Why didn’t you call me?” she blurted, bolstered by his tender actions.

 

“Pardon?” he asked, looking confused.

 

“After Pemberly. Why didn’t you call me?” she clarified, watching his face very carefully.

 

“Why didn’t you call me?” he countered.

 

Lizzie looked away, annoyed. “I asked first.”

 

He sighed. “At first I thought that I should just let you focus on your sister. And then I didn’t hear from you after… everything was over. I did toy with the idea of calling you, but then…”

 

“Then what?” she prompted.

 

He swallowed and looked away from her. “Then episode 93 happened. You referred to me as no more than a guy that you used to complain about on your videos. That I was not even a friend.”

 

Lizzie’s face turned incredulous. “Did you not listen to the rest of that video? I didn’t deny that there was chemistry, heat and tension when Charlotte brought it up.”

 

He shrugged self-deprecatingly. Lizzie decided that it was a cute look on him. “You made it sound as if it was a temporary thing. Something that had only happened because of our proximity at Pemberly. Something that would not last beyond that place.”

 

“Yes, but then I mentioned that I hadn’t heard from you since I left, got sad and avoided Charlotte’s question about whether my feelings had changed. How could you not see it?”

 

At this question, Will pinned her with a pointed look. “Because I had misinterpreted things so badly before. I didn’t trust my own judgement when it came to you. There was too much at stake. I didn’t want to get my hopes up. Because I had previously and it had not worked out well at all.”

 

Sighing, Lizzie reached out and clasped his forearm, rubbing her thumb back and forth across the indent of his muscle. “But things between us had changed so much since then. We actually got along at Pemberly.”

 

He let out a sardonic laugh. “I had thought we were getting along at Netherfield, too. I couldn’t afford to be crushed like that again, Lizzie.”

 

Her thumb stopped in its movements and her voice lowered. “I’m sorry, by the way. For the things I said about you on my videos and to you on that day last October.”

 

Darcy flushed with embarrassment. Reaching out, he clasped her hand in his. “I’m fairly certain I deserved the majority of what you said to me. I had not even considered the possibility that you would turn me down that day. I was arrogant, and then I was unfair. I said horrible things about you and your family, without even considering your feelings. It took watching episode seven of your videos for me to even consider that there was an element of truth in what you had said to me. I saw how my thoughtless words had hurt you. Before that day, I was not concerned with how my actions affected people.” Shaking himself out of his remembrances, Will pulled himself back on track. “But, I digress. We’re talking about why we didn’t contact one another. Why didn’t you contact me?”

 

Lizzie’s answer was simple and to the point. “Because I thought you weren’t interested anymore.”

 

“I had just asked you out on a theatre date before you left,” Darcy pointed out.

 

“I know, but then I didn’t hear from you. I began to twist things in my head. I thought that perhaps you had only asked me out of politeness. That all that you had done for me at Pemberly had been out of a desire to prove to me how wrong I had been about you. That you had gotten over me over the course of dozens of videos in which I slammed everything about you. Frankly, I thought the odds of you still liking me were pretty small.”

 

He smiled at her and it took her breath away. A fully formed smile from Will was as rare as it was beautiful. She took no small joy in the knowledge that she was one of the few people who could invoke a smile like that from him.

 

“Lizzie, don’t ever doubt the way I feel about you. The way I feel about you… it’s not going away.”

 

Lizzie couldn’t help but return his smile. “Well, I know that now, but… at the time…”

 

He shook his head, his smile still present. “I actually think that the videos only strengthened my feelings for you. They certainly showed to me my own faults.”

 

Lizzie pulled in a deep, calming breath and searched for the courage to admit the other reason as to why she hadn’t called him. “There was also a part of me that felt that I would have looked like a complete golddigger if I had only begun to like you after seeing your amazing company. I began to like you when you showed me your softer side, and it was just a coincidence that you showed me it during my stay there. But I felt that maybe you would see it as a crass, opportunistic move if I were to call you after I had realised how amazing Pemberly was.”

 

“Lizzie-” he began, but was halted when she flung up a hand to silence him.

 

She shook her head, her eyes trained firmly on the frame overhead. “I know. It’s stupid. But it did weigh on my mind, that’s all I’m saying. If you didn’t love me anymore, I could deal with it so long as you didn’t think badly of me as well.”

 

“I could never think badly of you,” he assured her, tilting her chin up and softly grazing his lips against hers.

 

“I love you,” she told him, watching his face light up in the most beautiful way.

 

It was not lost on either of them that this was the first time she had said the words to him outside of their initial coming together. It was also the first time she had told him without his admitting it first.

 

“And I will always love you, Lizzie Bennet. Thank you for helping me become a better man.”

 

“Thank you for loving me as I am,” Lizzie smiled at him, cupping his neck and hauling him in closer. “Now, let’s get down to the business of you actually _loving_ me.”

 

Darcy’s response was in actions, not in words.

 

***


	9. Work Of Art

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dropping bombshells and clandestine meetings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are so great. Thank you for all the love! You make me feel all happy and sparkly.
> 
> Ok, so I'm running out of usable lyrics for my chapter titles. Guess I'll have to finish up soon.

***

 

“Will!” Lizzie hissed, grabbing his shoulder and shaking him. “Wake up!”

 

“Unn Wha-?” he garbled blearily, sitting up drunkenly and peering at her through slitted eyes. “Whas wrong?”

 

“I fell asleep here!” she pushed past gritted teeth. In any other situation, Will’s sleepy demeanour would have been endearing, but at that moment it was simply frustrating.

 

His brow furrowed and he tried to blink the sleep from his eyes. “You’ve been sleeping here every night,” he replied in his sleep roughened voice.

 

She gestured wildly with her hands in a mad state of panic. “Look at the time!”

 

“Oh,” he murmured as his gaze fell on the clock. “I guess we were more tired than usual.”

 

“Everyone is going to be up! Everyone will know that we’ve been…”

 

“Sleeping together?” he offered.

 

“Yes!”

 

Laying back down, Will cleared his throat and attempted to take on a casual tone. “Would it really be that bad if everyone were to discover the truth about us?”

 

Lizzie paused in her blind panic. She had picked up on the note of vulnerability in his question, as much as he tried to hide it. She softened, feeling the dread fade from her system. Rationally she knew that nothing terrible would happen, but she liked the secrecy of it being just the two of them. Every time she had let someone in on the secret, it felt like a little piece of their intimacy had been stripped away. Part of the intensity of being together; gone.

 

She knew intellectually that she would love him just as much if their secret were out in the open, but the selfish part of her didn’t want to share this. With anyone. Certainly she had told her sister and Jane and Charlotte had discovered the truth for themselves, and while it had been a relief having someone to confide in outside of Will, it had felt somewhat intrusive.

 

She realised that it wasn’t so much the secrecy she enjoyed, but the feeling of unity she had with him. They had originally started out as the only two people in the world who had known what had happened between them and they had then both worked towards a common goal together. She loved the idea of sharing a secret with him. Loved the idea of being the only person to know particular things about him. Loved the idea of being one of the most important people in his life.

 

“Well no,” she admitted, trying not to let a besotted smile slip through when she saw his lips quirk up at the sides. “But it’s not an ideal way for them to find out.”

 

“Well, I could look out and see if anyone is in the hall,” he offered. “If not, you could just walk out.”

 

“And if someone comes walking down the hall? What reason would I give for being down your end of the hallway?” Lizzie enquired. “My bedroom is at the opposite end and there’s nothing else down your way except a dead end.”

 

“Just tell them that you got lost,” he suggested helpfully.

 

Lizzie rolled her eyes and then tumbled out of the bed, tugging her clothes back on. Will stumbled after her, his limbs still heavy with sleep, and peered out into the hallway for her.

 

“The coast is clear,” he told her, pulling her in for a quick kiss before she left.

 

He watched as she adorably scampered down the hall, looking for all the world like a frightened rabbit in a war zone. He laughed at her unbearable cuteness and felt his chest tighten to the point of pain. She had brought such intense emotion to his life. After being in such a deadened state for years after the grief of his parents’ deaths, these new feelings always managed to take him completely by surprise, even when he was expecting them. They were so explosive, so chemical and so ingrained in him now, he couldn’t imagine not feeling this way.

 

His adoring chuckles gave way to real laughter as he watched her do a stupid victory dance in the doorway of her bedroom. She was positively breathtaking.

 

***

 

“Walking through the Guggenheim makes me feel so sophisticated and worldly,” Lizzie commented. “Like I’m about to go have cucumber sandwiches and discuss world politics with my other snobby, rich friends.”

 

“Lizzie B, you are with snobby, rich friends who are about to go to lunch with you. We can order cucumber sandwiches and discuss world politics if you’d like,” Fitz told her as they all paused to look at a beautifully crafted vase.

 

“I wouldn’t call any of you snobby,” Lizzie replied, her gaze flicking over to Will. She rolled her eyes when she heard Gigi’s mini squeal of excitement. She didn’t even need to look at Fitz to know that he was celebrating as well. If that was how they reacted to her admitting that Will wasn’t snobby, imagine how they’d react if they knew what they’d been up to in previous nights and planned to do again tonight. Lizzie shuddered at the thought of that reaction. She was pretty certain that Gigi couldn’t contain that type of excitement.

 

“Gigi, please be careful around the vase. Remember what happened at Aunt Catherine’s?” Darcy cautioned, noting her flailing arms with some alarm.

 

Gigi huffed, crossing her arms. “That happened _once_. And besides, it was a stupid place to put something so valuable. It was inevitable that it’d fall and break.”

 

He smirked at her, “And it of course had nothing to do with you running inside after Aunt Catherine explicitly told you not to?”

 

She returned his smug look with an arch one of her own. “I was a model of virtue as a child. I never ran inside.”

 

“I like how creative your version of the past is.” His lips quirked up in amusement as he spoke. Oh, how Lizzie loved that quirk.

 

“Perhaps we should bring up some of your past indiscretions, William,” Gigi suggested. “I wouldn’t want you to feel left out.”

 

“Oh no, you can have the limelight on this one. It wouldn’t feel right to take the spotlight from you.”

 

Lizzie glanced at Will as he bantered with his sister, watching the cute interplay between them. Her heart felt full to bursting.

 

This was it.

 

This was the moment when she and Will shared their joy with everyone else. She just couldn’t contain it anymore. She wanted to be able to celebrate with them, to openly express her affection for her boyfriend without wondering who was watching. Catching his eye, she smiled openly at him. She opened her mouth to relate the news to them.

 

“If you’ll stop for a moment guys, I have a surprise for you,” Bing called out over the top of them, not noticing Lizzie’s irritated and dismayed expression that crossed her face the moment he opened his mouth.

 

Lizzie’s mouth snapped closed as Bing dropped his bombshell. “So, Caroline’s flying in tomorrow from Los Angeles. She’s making a brief stopover here on her way to Boston. She has a work function so she’s taking an extra day or two off of work to come and visit us beforehand.”

 

“That’s great news, Bing! What time is she arriving?” Jane asked, her excitement genuine.

 

“Caroline’s flight lands tomorrow morning at eleven am,” Bing informed them, totally missing Lizzie’s grimace and Will’s more subtle downward turning of his lips. “So I thought we’d all have lunch catered. Make a real party of it.”

 

“That sounds great, Bing,” Jane said sincerely. “I look forward to seeing her again.”

 

Lizzie noticed that she seemed to be the only one who held that sentiment. Will’s face was carefully set on neutral, but the stiffness of his shoulders gave away his true feelings. Both Gigi and Fitz looked… troubled, which she found surprising. Neither of them had been directly affected by her behaviour, but she assumed that perhaps they were concerned about the possible awkwardness and tension that may arise during her stay. Lizzie could empathise with that. She wasn’t sure what Caroline’s reception to herself and her sister would be.

 

With everything that had happened, Lizzie had completely forgotten the impending visit from Caroline. She had resolved to be civil, if only for Jane’s sake, but only if Caroline was going to endeavour to do the same.

 

If she so much as looked at Will flirtatiously or made one comment about her family, Lizzie swore that she wouldn’t be responsible for her own actions.

 

With a sour taste of her mouth, Lizzie continued on with exploring the Guggenheim. She was not looking forward to this visit.

 

***

 

Two furtive figures shivered outside in the dead of night. They were on Bing’s private terrace and had important things to discuss.

 

“Team Figi, let’s take the roll call. President and resident cool guy, Fitz Williams?”

 

Fitz wrapped his arms around himself tighter as he sat down on a deck chair and tried not shiver. “Present.”

 

“Gigi Darcy, treasurer and fashion consultant. Definitely present.” Gigi clapped her hands together and smiled at her co-conspirator. “Let’s do this thing.”

 

“First order of business,” Fitz began, looking at Gigi very seriously. “Caroline Lee.”

 

“Yes,” Gigi mused, her face serious. “She may throw a spanner in the works. I mean, Lizzie is wiser now, but if she’s determined enough she may do something to destroy any progress we’ve made with the two of them.”

 

“Ok, so she’s something to keep in mind. We may have to run interference with her.”

 

“I think to be on the safe side we should do it anyway, regardless of how she’s behaving. Just to be on the safe side. She’s my friend, but I think I can safely say that she’s not shipping Dizzie like the rest of us.”

 

Fitz nodded and jotted some things down on his notepad. With a huff, he slapped his pen down.

 

“Second order of business,” Fitz said, shaking his head sadly. “Darcy himself. The man is his own worst enemy. We have given him so many opportunities and he keeps flubbing each and every one. I mean, you totally gave him an in at dinner last night and he just…”

 

Both Gigi and Fitz groaned as they remembered the whole fiasco.

 

Gigi ran her hands through her hair, she nearly at the point of frustration that she could tear it out at the roots. “We have to step up our game, Fitz. Not only do we have to provide opportunities for Lizzie and Darcy to get together, we also have to step up the supervision so that he doesn’t do any more damage, help him with his game, help Lizzie to be more receptive to him and also stop Caroline from uh… “helping” Darcy.” Gigi gave Fitz an uneasy, tentative smile. “Sounds easy enough, right?”

 

“Oh god, we’re doomed,” groaned Fitz.

 

Gigi sighed, slumping forward, her head in her hands. “This is impossible, isn’t it?”

 

“No way, Gigi D,” Fitz enthused, putting on a brave face. “We’re team Figi. We can’t be beaten.”

 

She smiled at his enthusiasm, he truly was the most optimistic person ever. “Well, maybe we should prioritise our goals. Perhaps our focus should be in Caroline, at least until she flies back. Let’s just make it our aim to keep her separate from them until her departure, then we can remedy any damage William has done in our absence.”

 

Fitz mused on this proposition for a moment. “It’s probably our best shot. Not ideal, but it’ll do in a pinch. And who knows? Maybe he’ll step up his game and he and Lizzie will get together without our interference.”

 

“Yeah right,” Gigi scoffed. “Have you seen him interact with her lately? It’s all stiffness and reserve. He’s gone back to Darcybot.”

 

“Caroline’s only here for a little while, Gigi,” Fitz reminded her. “When she’s gone it’s going to be time for ‘Operation Smooth Moves’! We’re going to turn that boy into an irresistible sex machine.”

 

Gigi’s lip curled up in disgust. “Gross. But ok. Whatever it takes to get them together. I know they’re perfect for one another, we just have to get them to see it.”

 

“Team Figi will prevail,” Fitz reassured her. “When Operation ‘Keep Her Away’ has come to an end, we will have a talk with that young man and get him to put in the effort. Don’t you worry your pretty little head about it. We’ll fix this.”

 

“Go team!” Gigi cheered, leaning across from her own deck chair and highfiving him.

 

***


	10. Here Where I Stand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Make outs and make ups.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so I have a lot of feelings about the whole Caroline thing. I feel like the massive issues raised about her and her destructive tendencies were never resolved. This is my attempt at doing that.
> 
> I'm sorry if you don't like it, but I needed to do it. Things left hanging like that annoy me.

***

 

Lizzie groaned as he pressed her up against the door. “We have to stop meeting like this, Mr Darcy.”

 

“But it’s so much fun,” he murmured into her neck.

 

She gasped as he hitched her leg up and pressed himself against her, pulsing in a maddening, rhythmical way.

 

“Who knew,” she gasped breathlessly after his lips had left hers, “that you were such an animal?”

 

“You bring out the beast in me,” he replied absently, feeling much more pre-occupied by removing her underwear than in conversing at that particular point in time.

 

Soon, there was nothing more than the sounds of their breathing, the rhythmic dull thud of their bodies against the door and the occasional blissful sigh or moan.

 

She let out a shaky breath as the last dredges of bliss drained from her system, leaving her weak and emotional. She clung to his shoulders and let his warmth and strength surround her. He held her close for a long moment, content to just be in the moment with her.

 

While the rest of the group were in the den watching a movie before Bing left to pick up Caroline, she was in the bathroom with William. Given that they had spent the previous night engaging in exactly the same activity, it was amazing to her that her desire for him never truly went away. It burned, smouldering in the background until it came raging into a blaze with a look or a touch. It was incomprehensible what he could do to her hormone levels without even touching her.

 

“I think I could stay like this forever,” she admitted, her eyes closing of their own volition when he nuzzled his face into her neck.

 

“We should go somewhere together,” he murmured. “Some deserted tropical island where no one can reach us and spend weeks just like this. Just you and me. What do you think?”  
  
“I think I can’t afford the plane ticket,” she told him, clamping her hand over his mouth when he went to offer. “No. You are not paying for me to go on holiday with you. We need to be equals and I can’t feel like an equal if you’re constantly paying my way. And while this may not be a big deal to you, it is to me.”

 

“You would still be my equal, Lizzie,” he reassured her.

 

She shook her head. “Not in the truest sense of the word. When everything is set up and work is taking off, sure, I’ll go with you then, but I can’t feel ok about accepting lavish gifts from you. I honestly feel like it would be taking advantage of you. I’m not a gold digger and I don’t need fancy gifts or deserted islands to be with you and love you. They’re not what I got into this relationship for.”

 

Darcy’s brow furrowed and he vehemently denied her claim. “No one is going to accuse you of being a gold digger, Lizzie.”

She smirked at him and gave him a pointed look. “Oh yeah? I’m pretty sure that statement will be proven false the minute your Aunt Catherine hears the news.”

 

“Well, I…”

 

Lizzie interrupted his floundering and pressed her hands to his cheeks, bringing his gaze back to hers. “I’m ok with her thinking I’m a gold digger. There’s not a whole lot I can do about it, to be honest. But I’m not ok with feeling like one. Can’t we just be normal and have taco nights and dates at the movies?”

 

Darcy’s gaze travelled downwards again, coming to rest at about her navel. “But I want to spoil you, Lizzie. You deserve nice things. I want to be able to give that to you.”

 

“I have the nicest thing already,” she told him softly, rubbing her thumb across the sculptured ridge of his cheek bone. “All I need to feel spoiled is your love.”

 

“You’ll always have that,” he whispered softly.

 

“Good,” she murmured back, her lips drawing closer to his. She would never tire of the magnetic pull he had over her.

 

She gave a giggle and he pulled back, pinning her with a curious stare. “What?”

 

“That was a really strange way to have that conversation.”

 

Will chuckled as he realised that her legs were still wrapped around him, his hands were cupping her ass, she was still pressed against the door and neither of them had underwear on.

 

“We have never been a typical, normal couple,” he admitted. “Why should we start now?”

 

She grinned at him and pressed her lips to his, enjoying the feel of his fingers unconsciously flexing in surprise.

 

“Lizzie?” Jane called out through the door, her voice shattering the private bubble of bliss they’d sunk into. “Are you in there?”

 

“Uh, no,” Lizzie called out without thinking, facepalming at the inanity of such a response. Why, oh why didn’t she just keep her stupid mouth shut?

 

She felt Will’s body convulse with silent laughter and she smacked him for his troubles. She’d make him pay for that later. He gently lowered her to the ground and they both set about retrieving their clothes as quickly and as silently as possible.

 

“What?” Jane asked with a giggle. “Are you ok?”

 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Be out in a sec,” she replied, waiting for the tell-tale signs of her sister’s retreat.

 

“Ok, I’ll wait out here for you, then. Fitz is asking where you are.”

 

“No!” Lizzie protested rather too sharply as she hurriedly pulled her underwear back on. Similarly, Will was trying to zip up his fly as silently as he could. It was one thing for Jane to know that she was dating Will, but entirely another for her to know that they were engaging in sexy times in bathrooms. “I’ll meet you back there, I have some things I have to finish up with in here.”

 

She winced once again at the stupidity of her words and narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend who was once again silently laughing at her expense.

 

“Oh-kay,” drawled Jane uncertainly, “I’ll meet you back there.”

 

Lizzie breathed a sigh of relief as her sister’s footsteps echoed down the hallways.

 

“Dear Jane,” Lizzie sighed, opening the door and exiting the bathroom once she was sure she had gone. “Not a suspicious bone in her body.”

 

“That felt very clandestine,” remarked William, straightening his tie. “And while clandestine is fun, I really feel as though we should be open about us. I mean, Jane clearly already knows, but I am getting a bit over all the sneaking around and hiding it from the others.”

 

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Clandestine not enough for you anymore?”

 

Will shook his head as he smoothed his hands over her hair, removing the proof of their passion. “Hiding like this makes me feel as if I’m hiding you. It’s as if I am ashamed of you, when nothing could be further from the truth. I would like to shout it from the rooftops and take you out to places where we can be seen together and everyone will ask themselves how such an agoraphobic lobster managed to win the heart of such an amazing woman.”

 

Lizzie felt her stomach twist in a pleasant way and her smile turned from simply present to beaming.

 

“Let’s get through lunch today and after Caroline gets back on her broomstick and flies off to the lower depths of hell, we’ll tell everyone.”

 

He cocked an eyebrow at her description of Caroline. “Still bitter?”

 

Lizzie pursed her lips and nodded her head. “She did manufacture a scenario designed to break up Bing and Jane, manipulate you into corroborating her lie and manipulate me into hating you more than I naturally would have. So… yeah. She’s not on my Christmas cards list.”

 

“She’s not my favourite person either,” William admitted, pulling her into his body and embracing her. He needed the contact after the mention of her hating him. Needed the reassurance that that particular time was now long gone. “But, Bing and Jane want this to work. We need to be pleasant and attempt to get along with her to make them happy.”

 

“I will be pleasant,” she grimaced. “Then after she’s gone we can tell everyone our good news. I don’t want her there for the announcement, putting a dampener on things.”

 

“Fair enough,” he murmured into her hair, pressing a kiss into her hairline. He traced a hand down her right arm and then pulled away. “We should get back.”

 

“I’ll go first,” she muttered. “You follow after a safe time.”

 

Will watched her walk away from him and looked forward to the day after tomorrow. He feared it might be the only thing that would get him through this day.

 

***

 

Lizzie Bennet was many things, but homicidal was generally not a descriptor she would apply to herself. But after five minutes in Caroline’s presence she was seriously rethinking how she evaluated herself.

 

“Lizzie, it’s so good to see you out from behind your computer!” she enthused. “I was beginning to think you were albino, but I’m glad to see you’ve gotten outside more often lately. Your freckles have almost tripled in number!”

 

“Well, I can’t stand too much direct sunlight, you know us soulless gingers. I often slink back under my rock if I feel like I’m going to combust,” she replied dryly.

 

“Lizzie B,” interrupted Fitz, trying to smooth over the situation, “is it true that you receive a freckle for each soul you steal?”

 

“You’ll find out tonight,” she intoned evilly before bursting into laughter with him.

 

Caroline, however, would not be deterred. “Is that a new top? I’ve often thought that coral isn’t your colour and leaves you looking washed out, but I think this top actually suits you.”

 

“You’re too kind,” Lizzie grated, trying to find her inner sanctum of peace. She didn’t find it, but she did run through several different scenarios in her head in which Caroline met an untimely end.

 

“And Jane,” Caroline greeted, her smile insincere. “You’re looking so well. How are you enjoying living here? It must be such a change from what you’re used to.” Jane flushed at the obvious dig about the opulence of the condo and her lack of wealth. Caroline paused for a moment to let that barb sink in before covering her tracks. “I mean, coming from a small town to the big apple must be a big difference.”

 

“I find it’s not that different from LA,” Jane replied evenly.

 

Luckily, at this point, Gigi entered the room and Caroline’s attention was diverted. Over the top of Caroline’s enthusiastic greetings, Fitz murmured, “Breathe, Lizzie B. Just breathe.”

 

“Easy for you to say,” she grumbled. “The wicked witch isn’t sending her disapproval your way.”

 

Fitz chuckled and patted her on the head.

 

“Darcy!” Caroline greeted enthusiastically. Stepping forward, she raised her arms to hug him, but quickly stopped in her tracks when she noticed his pointed step backwards.

 

Lizzie had never, _ever_ in her entire life wanted to make out with William Darcy as much as she did at that point in time.

 

Coughing to cover her mortification, Caroline smiled widely at him. “It is so great to see you! I’m surprised you can manage this much time away from your company, you’ve already taken so much. I imagine you’ll have to get back soon.”

 

“Caroline,” Darcy greeted, falling silent afterwards.

 

After a long moment of awkwardness, Fitz jumped in when he realised that this was all the greeting that Caroline was to expect from his stalwart friend. “Caroline Lee, you are looking fine, girl! Did you do something to your hair?”

 

As Caroline jumped into a lively and entertaining story of how her hair had nearly been ruined by her far too eager hair stylist, Lizzie gazed at her and remembered why she had originally liked Caroline whilst staying at Netherfield.

 

She could be engaging, fun and lively and was a fantastic conversationalist. It saddened Lizzie to know that Caroline seemed to only switch that persona on when she wanted something or to keep up appearances.

 

After Caroline had finished regaling everyone in the room with her story, Bing suggested that they move into the dining room for lunch.

 

Lizzie found that the seating arrangements had her sitting next to Darcy down one end and Caroline all the way down the other end. It was a pleasing set of circumstances, but it didn’t go unnoticed by others.

 

“Well, this seating arrangement is interesting. Who manipulated this setup?” she asked with false cheer, pinning Gigi with her gaze.

 

“Really Caroline,” Lizzie drawled, attempting to look unconcerned. “Out of all of us, I would have thought that manipulation would have been _your_ thing.”

 

Caroline had the decency to flush with shame and Lizzie noted the awkward silence with something akin to regret. She didn’t wish for this to happen – for everyone to be abruptly reminded of Caroline’s foolish and malicious actions, but Lizzie had had enough. She had no right to waltz into Bing and Jane’s apartment like she owned the place and insult their guests. Given what had happened, she had no right to expect a welcome at all.

 

“So,” Bing said uneasily as they all sat in their pre-arranged seating. “Caroline, how were Mom and Dad?”

 

“They were ok. As well as could be expected, under the circumstances,” Caroline said sweetly, looking directly at Bing and Jane.

 

Lizzie visibly grimaced, Fitz and Gigi winced and even Darcy – the king of composure – actually rolled his eyes.

 

Bing flinched in his seat and for a brief second, Lizzie decided that murder was too kind a fate for Caroline Lee. Bing had made his choices in his life and who was she to second guess them?

 

Jane sat back in her seat and Lizzie knew what would happen next. Like with any conflict or uneasiness, she would withdraw. New Jane may have been able to handle her own family feuds, but the Lee family’s dynamic was completely foreign to her.

 

“Oh, but they have made a new business associate,” Caroline told them, her smile widening. Lizzie could just feel the malevolent glee rolling off of her in waves. “Mr Wan. He has a daughter around your age. Very beautiful. Single too. Actually, she lives in New York. You should give her a call sometime.”

 

Lizzie’s mouth dropped open at the sheer audacity. Jane went pale and wide eyed, Gigi looked like she’d been sucker punched, Fitz’s head collapsed into his hands and even Darcy let out a disbelieving grunt.

 

But what was most peculiar was Bing’s reaction. He didn’t flush red with mortification. He didn’t flinch, or shift uncomfortably. If anything, his back got a little straighter and his face set in an unreadable expression.

 

“Why would I call her?” he asked quietly.

 

Lizzie blinked at his tone and felt the anticipation well up inside her. Something was happening.

 

“You know,” she replied breezily. “If things don’t work out. It’s good to keep your options open.”

 

“Ugh, she didn’t,” Fitz breathed quietly, his eyes riveted at the interaction playing out between the two siblings.

 

Bing’s voice was still quiet, but the still silence in the room meant that his voice carried. “You mean if things work out between myself and the woman you’ve deemed inferior to me? Is that it?”

 

Caroline blinked, clearly not expecting to be called on her obvious machinations by her brother. She smiled weakly and backtracked. “I didn’t say that.”

 

“No, but we all knew that’s what you meant. Caroline, you treat Jane with the respect she’s due.”

 

Caroline snorted, clearly not taking his request seriously. “I was.”

 

Bing’s voice was low and frighteningly angry when he spoke. Lizzie had never heard him like this before, and judging from the expressions on everyone else’s faces, they hadn’t either.

 

“I forgave you once, Caroline. I won’t do it a second time. Get yourself under control or get out.”

 

Caroline’s eyes widened in disbelief and Lizzie could see the tears brimming in her eyes. Rising from her chair, she fled from the room, Bing then left the room in the opposite direction followed by Jane and the remainder of the party were once again thrust into another awkward silence.

 

“Well,” said Fitz, attempting to bring some levity into the occasion. “That was unexpected. And yet… not.”

 

“Someone should go talk to her,” Gigi said unconvincingly.

 

“Go for it, Gigi,” Fitz replied, giving her a double thumbs up.

 

“No, she’s mad at me for trying to get-” Gigi stopped swiftly and looked furtively at her brother and Lizzie. “Never mind. I’m just not her favourite person right now.”

 

“I’m not going either then. As delightful as I am, I find that I’m ill-equipped to deal with this problem,” Fitz admitted.

 

Lizzie shrugged. “I’m the last person she’d want to see.”

 

All eyes turned to Darcy expectantly to see what he’d do. Noticing their gazes he shook his head. “No.”

 

“No?” Gigi asked.

 

“No,” he reiterated.

 

“Because…?” prompted Fitz.

 

“Because she has made a mess of so many lives and should feel the consequences of what she’s done,” he replied carefully. “Everyone else has had to deal with the pain of what she’s caused for months. She can handle the pain for an afternoon.”

 

“Is anyone else hungry?” Lizzie asked after a moment. “Seriously, the drama couldn’t have waited until after lunch? I’m so hungry I could eat a door knob.”

 

“You have a fine selection here to choose from,” offered Will helpfully. “Would your tastes run to ornate or designer chic?”

 

“I think I’ll just eat you instead,” Lizzie replied without thinking, only understanding what she’d just said when she heard the muffled laughter from both Gigi and Fitz.

 

“Now that’s a proposition if ever I heard one,” choked out Fitz. “Perhaps you two need some alone time.”

 

Lizzie couldn’t stop the giggle building in her chest as she watched William blush rosy red from the innuendo.

 

Once they had all calmed down Lizzie made a decision. “Screw this. I’m going to the store room to see if there’s a bag of chips or something.”

 

“Try not to run into Caroline on your way there,” Gigi offered helpfully.

 

“Not much chance of that,” Lizzie muttered, getting up from her chair. “She’s probably locked herself in the guest room.”

 

Making her way into the storeroom, Lizzie stiffened when she heard a sniff. Rounding the corner she froze when she saw Caroline sitting on a wine barrel, her head in her hands.

 

Was she… crying?

 

Lizzie took in the shake of her shoulders and felt pity well up inside her.

 

“Caroline?” Lizzie said tentatively, moving closer.

 

“Leave me alone,” was the miserable reply. Pulling a tissue out of a nearby box, Lizzie walked over to her and took a seat on the wine barrel opposite her.

 

Lizzie rolled her eyes at the predictable response. “I would, if I thought that you were a totally irredeemable bitch who enjoyed manipulating people for the hell of it. But since you’re not, I feel like I should at the very least offer you a tissue.”

 

“How do you know I’m not?” Caroline challenged. “You know what I did. You heard what I said.”

 

“Heartless bitches don’t cry like their heart is breaking when their brother is angry with them.”

 

Caroline slowly raised her head and Lizzie caught a glimpse of her watery eyes and tear stained cheeks. Lizzie sighed and extended a tissue out to her. Reaching out hesitantly, Caroline took the proffered tissue and dabbed under her eyes.

 

“Why do you do this, Caroline?” Lizzie asked, exasperation colouring her tone. “Are you so intent on burning every bridge in your life? Are your expectations that important that you’ll destroy everything you hold dear because you don’t get your way?”

 

“I don’t know why I do the things I do,” she admitted on a choked whisper.

 

Surprised by the candid honesty, Lizzie didn’t speak for a few moments as she gathered her thoughts. “Well, that’s a start, I guess. Caroline, do you honestly want your brother to be happy?”

 

“That’s all I’ve ever wanted,” she admitted hoarsely.

 

“But you want his happiness on your terms? He can only be happy with the life that you’ve chosen for him. Is that it?”

 

Caroline let out an exasperated huff. “How can he be happy with such a wasted life?”

 

“Why don’t you ask him?” Lizzie suggested. “Ask him how it makes him feel helping people. Find out why he didn’t like med school. Ask him to describe what it feels like when he looks at Jane. You have a habit of making decisions for people, Caroline, without ever consulting them beforehand. You’d planned out Bing’s life for him and decided that Will was yours without even talking to either of them.”

 

“Will?” Caroline asked, her head turning swiftly to level a piercing look at Lizzie. “You’re on a first name basis with him now?”

 

“Yes,” Lizzie replied with equal gravity, answering both her question, and her unspoken one.

 

Caroline closed her eyes at the fresh stab of pain that roared through her system. She turned away and for a long moment, was silent.

 

“For what it’s worth,” she murmured softly, a hitch in her voice. “I really did… love him. It wasn’t about money, or status, or…”

 

Lizzie nodded as she trailed off. “I know. And for what it’s worth, I like this Caroline far more than I’ve liked other incarnations. Vulnerable, human and honest Caroline should stick around. You’ll certainly find repairing some relationships easier if you show the real Caroline.”

 

“Real Caroline is easily hurt,” she replied softly, staring at the tiled floor.

 

“Well, you can show real Caroline and have a chance to fix everything or you can go back to how things were and end up all alone and hurt. Only one of those options has the chance of making you happy. Unfortunately it’s also the scary one.”

 

Caroline fell silent and Lizzie sat there with her as she silently contemplated her options. After a while, Lizzie rose from her seat. “Do you want me to send Bing in?”

 

Caroline took in a steadying breath and nodded. “And… Jane. I need to apologise to her as well. If they’ll come talk to me, that is.”

 

In an unguarded moment, Lizzie smiled at her. “I’ll go get them.”

 

***


	11. Stand Up Straight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eavesdropping and apologies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, you beautiful people. I was just as worried about the last chapter as I was the sexy times chapter, which was a lot, let me tell you.
> 
> Thank you guys so much, you're all awesome.

***

 

“Do you think Bing has killed her yet?” pondered Fitz as they all stood in the kitchen, not so subtly trying to eavesdrop on the conversation taking place in the storeroom.

 

“She’s apologising,” Lizzie said with a roll of her eyes towards Fitz. “I think Bing is forgiving enough to see when she’s trying. Unless she’s doing that whole self-sabotaging thing again. Which she could be, let’s be honest. Old habits and all that.”

 

“How did you manage to make this come about?” queried Gigi, a note of awe in her voice.

 

“I honestly don’t know,” she replied. “I think she was just ready to talk.”

 

Will smiled at her. “Lizzie Bennet, miracle worker.”

 

“I’m pretty amazing,” she agreed, grinning at him unthinkingly.

 

The grin fled from her face when she heard Fitz cough. “We’ll just leave you two alone.”

 

“You don’t have to leave,” Lizzie called out to their retreating backs, but her only response was the soft thud of a closing door.

 

“What are the chances they’re listening through the door right now?” pondered Will as he took her hand in his.

 

“Almost certain,” she replied leaning in and giving him a soft kiss on the lips.

 

“Do they really think that we’ll go for it in the kitchen if we’re alone for ten minutes?” Will asked incredulously after pulling away from his girlfriend’s enticing embrace.

 

“Umm,” she whispered, trying not to be overheard by the two pervs outside the door. “That _is_ what happened, remember?”

 

“Oh,” he muttered, an endearing blush spreading across his cheeks. “Right.”

 

Leaning into her, he intended to give her a brief kiss, but ended up in a tight clinch against the bench. One small taste didn’t appear to ever be enough as far as Lizzie was concerned.

 

A muffled thud from outside the door and a muted, “Ow!” reminded him of their audience and he pulled away regretfully.

 

“You guys are totally subtle,” Lizzie called out as she sat down in her previous seat.

 

“Are you two making out, yet?” Fitz replied, clearly not fazed by the bruise that he had received when he had misjudged the distance from his body to the door.

 

Will rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you come and investigate for yourselves?”

 

The door swung open and both Fitz and Gigi sauntered in both attempting to look casual.

 

“So…” Gigi began, looking between the two of them for evidence of smooching. “What did you guys talk about?”

 

“Couldn’t hear very well with your ear pressed to the door?” Will enquired, a knowing smirk crossing his face.

 

“That wood is surprisingly thick and sound proof,” Fitz replied nonchalantly.

 

All banter came to a halt as Caroline, Bing and Jane re-entered the room.

 

Eyes flicked nervously between the three of them, eager to assess whether or not bodily harm had befallen any of them.

 

Caroline stiffened under the scrutiny and crossed her arms over her chest, clearing her throat. “Darcy, can I… would it be ok if I could talk to you for a moment?”

 

Gigi and Fitz were so caught up in the drama that they didn’t notice Caroline’s gaze flicker to Lizzie for a moment for her approval. They were too busy watching Darcy’s reaction. He nodded once and they moved off into the next room.

 

“So,” Fitz began, happy to break the silence that surrounded them. “How did that go?”

 

“Things got… resolved,” Bing informed them, smiling at the three of them. “I think we’ve come to an understanding.”

 

“I’m glad to hear it,” Lizzie said sincerely. Reading from her sister’s body language and the look she had given her, things had gone well. Lizzie hoped for all their sakes that this was the last time the issue would appear.

 

“So you forgave her?” Fitz queried, clarifying for his own nosiness.

 

Bing shrugged with a small smile. “Brothers are honour bound to forgive their sisters, right Gigi?”

 

Bing looked to Gigi, but her attention was miles away.

 

“Gigi?”

 

Gigi blinked and ripped her gaze from the intriguing scene from across the hall. She was certain she had just heard Lizzie’s name from her brother’s lips and she was _dying_ to know what they were saying.

 

“I’m sorry, what?”

 

Rolling her eyes, Lizzie patted her on the head. “Never mind. Go back to your eavesdropping.”

 

“I wasn’t eavesdropping!” Gigi protested, blushing at the four sets of disbelieving eyes staring her way. “Ok, maybe a little… but he’s my brother and I’m entitled.”

 

“You keep telling yourself that,” Lizzie deadpanned.

 

Gigi pouted when both Caroline and Darcy returned to the group. She had almost been able to make out what they were saying. She resolved to ask William about it later.

 

Caroline was the first to speak and break the silence that fell over all of them. “Well, I’m going to head off. I’ve rearranged my flights, so I’m flying out this afternoon.”

 

“So soon?” Jane enquired.

 

“Yeah,” Caroline nodded. “I thought it would be best. I have things to do up that way anyway.”

 

Bing nodded and pulled her into a hug. Lizzie felt her heart warm to the sight of Caroline’s face as her brother hugged her. While she may not have been the best sister, no one could deny that she loved her brother deeply.

 

Looking over at Will, she noticed that his form was far less rigid in her presence. She assumed that she must have apologised to him as well. She’d get clarification from him later.

 

***

 

While Bing and Jane were off dropping Caroline off at the airport, Fitz and Darcy both volunteered to run out and get supplies for a movie marathon, so Lizzie and Gigi were left alone together. Luckily for Lizzie, Gigi didn’t take the opportunity to ask Lizzie what she felt about Will. Lizzie wasn’t sure she could lie that well.

 

“So Gigi, how’s work going? You were going to do some app development work somewhere weren’t you?”

 

“We’ve had to delay Sanditon,” Gigi said sadly. “Apparently the permit to film in the town hasn’t quite come through yet, so we’re waiting for the next town meeting to hopefully vote in favour of us being there. But the mayor’s really keen, so… there’s that.”

 

Lizzie smiled consolingly at her. “Well, it sounds awesome, Gigi. Have you got a channel to upload the videos on yet?”

 

Gigi shrugged. “We’ll probably just use the same one as we did last time. Saves confusion.”

 

“Last time?” Lizzie queried. “And which channel is that?”

 

“You don’t know?” Gigi enquired, a look of shock on her face. “Surely you know by now.”

 

“Know about what?”  


“Umm… the channel we’re putting them on is Pemberly Digital’s channel. That is all I am allowed to say on that matter, because I am sworn to secrecy. If you’re intrigued, you should go watch some of the videos on there. Watch all of them in fact. You could even go watch them now.”

 

Lizzie frowned in confusion as Gigi grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her in the direction of the study. What was that about?

 

She walked slowly to the study, intrigued and perturbed by Gigi’s demeanour. Surely there could be no reason for secrecy over a few publically uploaded videos? Lizzie frowned as she took a seat in front of the screen, none of this made any sense. Turning on the computer, Lizzie googled Pemberly Digital into youtube and blinked as she recognised Gigi on the screen.

 

Anticipation boiled in her stomach as she pressed play on the first video. Something monumental was about to happen, she could feel it.

 

***

 

Darcy grimaced and rubbed his shoulder where Gigi’s needle fingers had dug in. With a sigh, he headed towards the study, complying with his sister’s cryptic orders. He assumed it was another one of her completely unnecessary matchmaking schemes.

 

He spotted Lizzie and wandered in through the door, closing it behind him. “Lizzie, Gigi just shoved me in the direction of the study and told me that you needed to speak to me. Is something wrong or is she merely trying to play cupid badly again?”

 

“William…” Lizzie began, gesturing to the computer screen. “What is this?”

 

Darcy glanced at the screen and dread filled his system at what he saw. The Domino Videos. From the rigidity of her posture he could see that she was not pleased.

 

“I see you’ve watched the whole playlist,” he remarked. “You know that I took care of the website business with your sister, this shouldn’t be a surprise.”

 

She turned and pinned him with an incredulous glare. “But it is! How did I not know about these videos earlier?”

 

Darcy shrugged. “I have no clue. Your viewers certainly knew about it.”

 

She threw her hands up and let out an exasperated cry. “Don’t be glib, it’s making me mad!”

 

Darcy froze, not liking the change in attitude from Lizzie. It was too close to her demeanour from the previous October. It sent dread rolling over him in waves. Despite his desperate attempts to reassure himself that Lizzie still loved him, he couldn’t help but feel that nausea and sickly cold washing over him. “Why? What is making you mad?”

 

“I don’t know!” Lizzie huffed, leaning back in her chair, hanging her head back. “I’m just mad.”

 

“I don’t know how to help with that,” Will said warily, hoping that they weren’t leading into their first fight as a couple.

 

“I just… I spent so long wondering who it was and then I spent an even longer period of time wondering why you’d done it, only to find…” Lizzie gestured wildly at the computer screen with her hands, “these! All of my answers in six little videos.”

 

She huffed and turned to face him. “I could have saved us so much time if I’d just seen these earlier. We could have been together for months instead of days. AND if you’d just told me that you’d done it or let Gigi tell me about the videos, we could have saved time too, you stupid martyr!”

 

Darcy blinked at the insult. “I did not want you to be beholden to me, Lizzie. I didn’t want you to feel that you had to be with me because you were grateful. I wanted you to be with me because you liked me.”

 

Will’s impassioned reasons for why he did what he did took the wind right out of her sails. Slumping in her chair, Lizzie groaned. Darcy came to kneel in front of her, taking her hands in his.

 

“I just…” she began, releasing her breath. “I get sad when I think of all the time we wasted.”

 

Internally, Will breathed a sigh of relief at her softening. Intellectually he knew that couples didn’t break up over stupid things like app demonstration videos, but he couldn’t help but feel that one misstep from him might destroy this entire house of cards he was constructing. “Shouldn’t the only thing matter is that we are here together? We made it Lizzie, regardless of you not seeing the Domino videos, regardless of neither one of us having the guts to call one another, we still made it. It was meant to be.”

 

“You don’t strike me as the type to believe in destiny, William Darcy,” Lizzie commented, her eyebrows raised and her voice incredulous.

 

He conceded the point with a nod of his head. “Well, I don’t in most respects, but when it comes to you, I feel like there was no other path I could have gone down, but the one that led me to you. Any choice I might have made, any difference in circumstance couldn’t have prevented me from finding you.”

 

She smiled at him, enormously touched by his words. “I’m sorry I overreacted.”

 

“I don’t believe I’m quite at the point where I can handle that,” he admitted after a long period of time. “Your anger towards me nearly sent me into a blind panic.”

 

Lizzie’s brow creased with concern. “Really? Will, we’re a couple, we’re going to have fights. You can’t keep thinking that any fight we have is going to send me running for the hills. It’s not just you in love with me, I’m in love with you too. We’re in this together.”

 

His lips quirked at her words and he brushed his thumb over a dainty knuckle. “I know, it just… it hasn’t been long enough for me to feel secure about this. I can still recall with perfect clarity that day last October.”

 

“I’m sorry,” she mumbles, staring at his hands clasped in hers. Or was it hers clasped in his? At this point, she didn’t even care. “If you want I can take those videos down.”

 

Will shook his head determinedly. “No. They were a key part of my personal growth. I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for your videos. I owe a lot to them.”

 

He watched in confusion as sorrow overtook her features. She always seemed to take him by surprise with her reactions. “But look at yours compared to mine. Yours are half a dozen videos where you sacrifice so many things to help my family just so that I’m not hurting anymore. And what’s my legacy to you? Dozens of videos in which I slander everything about you.”

 

“Lizzie, we can’t change the past.”

 

“I know,” she whined. “But I’d like to be able to hide it, like most other normal people.”

 

“Embrace it, Lizzie, and learn to forgive yourself,” he requested, sweeping a lock of hair out of her face.

 

“So, what did Caroline have to say?” Lizzie asked, changing the topic.

 

Taking pity on her, Will went with the change. “She apologised for her actions during her stay at Netherfield and wished me well with you. Which I must admit took me by surprise.”

 

Lizzie winced, recalling that she hadn’t told him beforehand that she had let Caroline know about their relationship. “She took careful notice of my use of your first name and went from there. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

 

He rolled his eyes at her. “Having people know that we’re in a relationship hardly makes me uncomfortable, Lizzie.”

 

“Are we still going for the big reveal the day after tomorrow?” she asked, tracing her fingers over his.

 

“That is the plan, unless you’d like to amend it.”

 

She shook her head firmly. “No, the plan is fine how it stands. Though Lydia is bummed.”

 

“Oh?”

 

“She had grand plans for trolling. She was going to send me text messages about some guy back home who would be “interested” in me. This would (according to her plan) send you into a catatonic jealous rage that would make you incapable of talking to me and thereby send Fitz and Gigi into simultaneous spirals of angst, despair and depression.” At Will’s disturbed look, she added, “Lydia’s words, not mine.”

 

“Some guy?” Darcy queried, his light tone gone.

 

Lizzie rolled her eyes. “She was going to make him up, don’t worry. She didn’t have a guy in mind, so rein in that jealousy.”

 

“Am I that transparent?” he queried, his tone regaining its buoyancy.

 

She shook her head. “I’m just getting better at reading you. Which wouldn’t actually be all that hard, considering I spent so much time and energy purposefully misinterpreting your actions.”

 

“I know you’re not happy about the past, Lizzie, but I can’t regret any path that led me to you.”

 

“William Darcy, am I turning you into a sap?” Lizzie asked, her tone teasing and her eyes wide.

 

He smiled at her. “Oh I’ve already turned. It’s irreversible now.”

 

“Elizabeth Bennet’s loving is lethal,” she said to him over a giggle, leaning into him for a kiss.

 

***


	12. Find A Soft Place To Land

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Confessions and alleyways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey you beautiful people! I'm back with more!
> 
> For those of you who think Team Figi are going too far (totally valid viewpoint, by the way), strap yourself in because they're about to kick it into overdrive. I admit, I have a fondness for scenarios that border on crack!fic, and the next chapter will be a doozy. Prepare yourselves.
> 
> I'm really tired, so any mistakes you see are the fault of fatigue and not because I suck at self editing (scout's honour ;)).

***

 

Sneaking a sidelong glance at William Darcy, Lizzie Bennet wondered how he was handling Coney Island. This was absolutely not his scene. Burlesque and carnival rides? Definitely not. However, he seemed to be withstanding it with great forbearance, though he had yet to go on any rides.

 

With the help of Team Figi, Lizzie and Darcy had managed to get separated from the group because they had wanted to explore different things in the area and as a result were meeting them at a small café. Lizzie hoped that they were getting lunch, because she was starved. They had managed to walk partway down the board walk in the allocated time frame, but Lizzie had been hoping to see the entirety of it. Nothing excited her more than boardwalks, beaches and rollercoasters. It was like the best parts of summer combined.

 

Crossing the road, they reached where the group were waiting for them. Waving at them in greeting, Lizzie and Will paused in surprise when Fitz called out, “Ok, they’re back, everyone in the limo. We have places to be.”

 

“What’s happening?” Lizzie asked as Jane and Bing clambered inside the limo.

 

“We’re heading off, we’ve got some cool stuff planned,” Fitz replied with a double thumbs up as he got in.

 

“Oh,” Darcy replied as Gigi slid in after Fitz. “I thought that maybe we could have lunch on Coney Island. I know that Lizzie wanted to experience more of the area.”

 

“Well that’s great,” Gigi enthused, lowering the window and closing the door. The evil smile on her face raised Darcy’s suspicions. “You can take Lizzie to lunch and we’ll send a driver to pick you up around four. Have fun you two!”

 

“Gigi, you can’t-” whatever Jane was about to say was cut off by the window going up and the limo driving off.

 

“Did they actually…?” Lizzie trailed off, watching the limo disappear.

 

“I think they did,” Darcy murmured. They watched in silence as they turned the corner and disappeared out of sight.

 

“Wow,” Lizzie exclaimed. “Just when you think they’ve hit their peak, they step it up a notch.”

 

Darcy sighed and turned to her, not altogether unhappy with the turn of events. “Well, since we are ostensibly abandoned here, did you want to just take advantage of the situation?”

 

She smirked and waggled her eyebrows at him. “Sure, I should be able to find some abandoned restroom to drag you in and ravage you.”

 

Darcy just about winced at the insinuation. “Lizzie, there are many, _many_ things that I would do for you. But making love in a public restroom is not one of them.”

 

Lizzie’s faux offended look was award worthy. “Why not?”

 

He grimaced, his lip raising in disgust. “They’re unhygienic and I do not relish the idea of catching hepatitis C from a toilet seat.”

 

Lizzie giggled at the idea of Will making contact with a public restroom toilet seat. She had actually had no intention of dragging him into one, but his reaction needled her into prolonging this conversation. She did thoroughly enjoy making him reveal just how bourgeois he really was. “Have you actually ever been in a public restroom?”

 

He pondered the question for longer than the question probably merited. “I don’t believe so.”

 

Will had no idea why his answer resulted in side splitting laughter from her, but he endured it. So long as she was enjoying herself. That was all that really mattered to him.

 

“Come on,” she said, grabbing him by the hand and dragging him down the street. “I promise not to ravish you in unhygienic places.”

 

“Well thank goodness for that.”

 

Darcy’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He drew it out with his free hand and exhaled noisily when he saw the text from Fitz.

 

**Use this golden opportunity to kiss the pants off of her! (not literally (though you can if you want to ;) I won’t judge))**

 

Fitz followed it up with another text three seconds later.

 

**Seriously dude, this is your chance. You’re running out of time! She’s only here for a limited time!**

 

Darcy cleared his throat and returned his phone to his pocket. Fitz’s message would go unanswered. “Lizzie, I’ve been meaning to ask you, how long are you here for?”

 

She answered his question with a quizzical tilt to her head. “Well, Jane goes back to work in four days, so I’m leaving in three.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“How long are you here for?” she asked, her mind finally making the leap that this interlude of theirs would have to end. She knew that at some point they’d have to go back to their lives and be with each other around other commitments, but it had been nice pretending that they could spend every day together like this and not have looming responsibilities to attend to.

 

He shrugged unconcernedly. “I can leave whenever I want. And given that we’re going _public_ tomorrow… it wouldn’t be too out of the question if I were to follow you back.”

 

“How bold, Mr Darcy. Though, I’ll only be gone for three days.” She looped her arm through his and steered him in the direction of a nearby cafe. She sheepishly smiled as she admitted, “After that… I’ll be up in San Francisco, scouting for potential business locations.”

 

Darcy couldn’t contain the burst of joy that flooded his entire body. Nor could he contain the grin that spread itself across his face without any conscious thought on his part. He pulled her into a nearby alley, removing them from the thoroughfare

 

His smile slipped, however, as she added, “So really, there’s no need to follow me down when I’d be joining you in a matter of days.”

 

He cleared his throat as he tried to think of the best way to respond to that. He wanted to be cool, calm and collected, but how could he when his entire being screamed out against the idea of spending three days away from her? He had spent months parted from her and now that they were finally together, for her to spend three days away from him… it was not something he could comprehend. They had been together for less than a week, he couldn’t leave her now if he tried.

 

“Will, are you ok? You’ve gone really quiet.”

 

He wanted to respond calmly to her concerned query, but he wasn’t sure that he could. “Lizzie, I don’t wish to spend any amount of time parted from you. I know that this may come off a little melodramatic, but at this point in time, it’s not within my power to do so.”

 

“Really?”

 

“It might be an opportune time to inform your mother as well. I could stay at Netherfield and come and see you. I know that this request is somewhat…” Darcy ran through all of the words he could use and none of them sounded right. Desperate? Needy?

 

“Sweet?” Lizzie suggested, biting her lip as she stared at the ground. “Romantic? Squee inducing?”

 

“Squee inducing?” Darcy echoed, a look of distaste written across his face.

 

“It’s a Lydia thing. Just go with it,” she commanded breezily. “And just go with me. Back home.”

 

“Are you inviting me back to your place?” he asked cautiously, making sure he had understood her correctly.

 

“Of course.”

 

They smiled at each other, their gazes locking as Darcy came to the realisation that perhaps he wasn’t as alone in his need to be with Lizzie Bennet. She had certainly agreed to that proposition fairly quickly, with very little convincing needed on his part. Perhaps Lizzie Bennet wanted him around as much as he wanted her around. He punctuated that thought by bringing her hand up to his lips and kissing her gently just above the knuckles.

 

She laughed richly after the intensity of their moment faded. “Really though, Will. It’s not within my power to do so? What is that? Who says that?”

 

“I apologise,” he replied stiffly, his chin retreating to his neck.

 

She poked his in the ribs with the free hand not tucked into his. “William, I’m teasing.”

 

“I knew that.”

 

“Of course you did,” she replied disbelievingly.

 

He rolled his eyes. “Hey, I’m learning. I’m not used to being teased and it will take some time.”

 

Her brow furrowed. “How do you be friends with Fitz without knowing how to deal with teasing?”

 

“Fitz knows his boundaries.” Darcy paused, blinking as he reconsidered that statement. “Or at least he used to. Is it just my imagination, or are they getting worse?”

 

She nodded, her eyebrows raised. “I think that’s the effects of impatience and desperation taking their toll. They’ve given up on subtlety, entirely.”

 

“Thank god we are going public tomorrow. Who knows how much worse they would get if we gave them more time?”

 

“I’m thankful for other reasons.” Pausing, she stepped in closer to him. “Like say… getting to kiss you in public whenever I want.”

 

“How bold, Miss Bennet,” he teased, echoing back her words from earlier whilst looping his arms around her back and pulling her in tight. “But, speaking of revealing ourselves,” He paused when she snorted. “Ok, perhaps that was the wrong choice of words. I merely meant, how would you like to reveal our relationship to the others?”

 

She pursed her lips thoughtfully and stroked an imaginary wrinkle from his tie. “Well, we could hold an informal meeting. Get everyone together and just tell them. But that doesn’t appeal to my flair for dramatics.”

 

His heart warmed at the devious look on her face. She was adorable when she was plotting something. “What would appeal to your flair for dramatics?”

 

“I don’t know… maybe I could come downstairs to breakfast and instead of saying hi, I could kiss you, like this…” raising up on her tip toes, Lizzie kissed him sweetly. It was far too short and far too chaste for Darcy’s liking.

 

He cleared his throat. “That would be a pretty effective method of informing them, but what about kissing me like this?”

 

Burrowing his hands into her hair, he stooped and kissed her ferociously.

 

They only broke apart when a wolf whistle from a nearby pedestrian reminded them of where they were. Heady from the kiss and from the embarrassment, Lizzie hid her face in his coat and laughed. It gave her a secret thrill that she could turn such a serious and private man into a PDA enthusiast.

 

“I – I apologise, Lizzie,” he stuttered. “I forgot myself and where we were for a moment.”

 

“So did I,” she admitted, lifting her head from his chest. “Now, you owe me lunch for mauling me on a sidewalk.”

 

“It is an alley, not a sidewalk,” he corrected.

 

Her nose scrunched as she considered that idea. “Gross. That’s even worse.”

 

“A public restroom is fine, but she turns up her nose at a perfectly decent alleyway,” he commented with a shake of his head and a teasing glint in his eye.

 

“See, there you go. You’re getting it. By this time next year you’ll have graduated from the Bennet school of teasing with full honours.”

 

“I have an excellent teacher.”

 

She tugged at the lapel of his coat and tilted her head back to look him in the eye. She absently noted his height once more. He was so tall. “And don’t you forget it. Now, you need to feed me before I start to gnaw on things I shouldn’t.”

 

“Anything you desire, Lizzie Bennet,” he commented, grasping her hand and leading her to a nearby restaurant. “Anything at all.”

 

***


	13. Calm Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revelations and the birds and the bees.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah. Borderline crack!fic.
> 
> The reason you get this chapter so quickly after the last is because this chapter has been written since about the time I posted chapter four.
> 
> The next part is the last part. Enjoy! (hopefully... :/)
> 
> Thank you to everyone who is reading, giving me kudos and commenting, you're all special snowflakes.

***

 

Lizzie giggled as she shut the door behind her. She was getting much better at the clandestine sneaking around. The trick was to keep tabs on where everyone else was, then all she had to worry about was someone coming up the hallway.

 

Kicking off her shoes, she laughed again as Will approached her. “I can’t believe that I actually got you on a rollercoaster. Your face after you got off was priceless. Why did you do it?”

 

He shrugged unconcernedly taking her hand in his. “I would do just about anything to make you happy. And, correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t you say that witnessing me on a rollercoaster would be the best thing you’d ever see in your life?”

 

She conceded the point with a nod of her head, but then poked him in the chest playfully. “Ok, you need to start taking the things I say with a grain of salt. I am full of hyperbole and it’s not worth it if I manage to turn you green for the next hour.”

 

“Did it make you happy?”

 

She couldn’t hide the gleeful smile. “Excessively so.”

 

He returned her smile and stopped her heart. “Then I don’t regret it.”

 

Rising up on tip-toes, Lizzie pressed her lips to his, enjoying the groan she wrenched from him. His arms wound around her back without any conscious thought on his part.

 

Their progress to the bed was only hampered by the simultaneous shedding of clothes. Darcy found it quite difficult to walk to the bed whilst trying to take off his pants. He found though, that through perseverance, anything was possible.

 

***

 

“Hmm,” she hummed against his lips, a sound of deep contentment. She wriggled in closer, looping a calf over the back of his knee.

 

“How do you think Gigi and Fitz will react to our news?” he asked, pulling back and letting her nestle her head in the crook of his neck.

 

“Flip out, probably,” she replied with a yawn.

 

“I think we should have a game plan as to how we tell your mother. Clearly, you know her better than I do. Do we tell her all at once or do we let her build up suspicions and then tell her? What would she react to better?”

 

Lizzie groaned and raised a finger to her lips in an effort to shush him. “Plan tomorrow. Sleepy times now.”

 

“I do not enjoy falling asleep,” he admitted, his hand idly ghosting down the soft skin of her back.

 

“Why not?” she asked drowsily.

 

“Because I am still afraid that I’ll wake up and this will all have been a dream,” he admitted quietly, his fingers clenching unconsciously into her skin.

 

Lizzie felt warmth flood through her chest. “Oh, you adorable twit.”

 

A knock on the door had Lizzie startling awake and scurrying under the covers.

 

“Shit!” she hissed when she heard Gigi’s voice call out, “William?”

 

“Just a moment!” Darcy called back, turning his head to look at his girlfriend hiding behind him. Pulling the covers back, he whispered, “What are you doing? She’s going to see you there!”

 

“Not if you roll over and hide me! She can’t find out like this, I’ll never hear the end of it!” she hissed back, pulling the covers back over her head.

 

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard,” he whispered back, whipping around onto his side to face the door when light from the hallway flooded the room.

 

Propping his head up on his left elbow, and hitching his right foot up to rest on his knee, Darcy had never felt more ridiculous in his entire life. It was only the panic inherent in the person pressed up behind him that had him keeping that pose.

 

Gigi paused in the doorway, taking in his poorly lit pose. “Are you thinking of becoming a porn star?

 

“No,” was all that Darcy could think to reply with.

 

“Ok,” said Gigi, closing the door behind her.

 

“Gigi, what are you doing here?”

 

“William, we need to talk.” He heard a small stumble and the confusion in her voice was apparent when she asked, “Geez, did I just trip over your shirt? Why are your clothes on the floor? You never leave your clothes on the floor. Whatever, it doesn’t matter. This isn’t why I came here.”

 

“Can it not wait until morning?” he asked, hoping desperately that she didn’t trip over Lizzie’s high heels. There was no way he could hide that from Gigi.

 

He heard an aggravated huff. “No, we need to do it now and I don’t want anyone interrupting.”

 

“Really Gigi,” Darcy insisted, feeling Lizzie’s hot breath hitting his back. “Now is not the time.”

 

“We need to talk about Lizzie,” Gigi stated firmly, sending a chill of apprehension down his spine.

 

“Gigi, I don’t-”

 

He was abruptly interrupted. “Yes, William, we need to talk about her. And what you’re doing.”

 

Darcy and Lizzie both stiffened, wondering if they’d been rumbled. Darcy cleared his throat and asked as casually as he could, “What I’m doing?”

 

“Or more to the point what you’re not doing. Why the hell aren’t you putting more effort in?”

 

He recoiled from the vehemence in her voice. “I’m sorry?”

 

“You should be!” Gigi hissed. “Lizzie is an amazing girl and if you’re not lucky, you’ll miss your chance. And you know that timing has never been kind to either of you. Now is the perfect chance to make your move and you’re just wasting it!”

 

Darcy felt a huff of Lizzie’s breath hit him in the back. Apparently she found this amusing. “Gigi, I am doing the best I can.”

 

“No you’re not!” she denied. “You were doing your best in San Francisco and now you’re just…” Gigi gave an inarticulate grunt, “sucking. Like, today, after you got back for dinner, you two weren’t even looking at each other! How did you mess it all up so badly? Fitz and I have given you opportunity after opportunity and you just keep ruining everything!”

 

Taking a calming breath, Darcy replied as evenly as he could, “Gigi, I would really love to talk to you about this some other time, but right now I’m tired and-”

 

Gigi apparently had no patience for his excuses and cut him off. “You’ve already admitted that she’s the love of your life, why aren’t you fighting for her?”

 

Darcy suppressed a shiver as two lips pressed themselves into his back. He felt the smile on her face she pulled back slightly and nestled her forehead into him.

 

“Is there a party in here?” Fitz asked as he pushed open the door. He stopped in the doorway when he saw Darcy’s pose. “Are you becoming a porn star?”

 

“Oh for the love of…”

 

“Chill, Darcy,” Fitz crooned soothingly, shutting the door behind him. “I just came in here to see what our game plan was.”

 

Darcy sighed heavily. “I know I’ll regret asking this, but what game plan?”

 

“The plan to make the beautiful Miss B fall head over ass crackers in love with you. Duh.”

 

Darcy felt Lizzie’s stomach clench as she reined in her laughter. “I am at a loss as to why you both feel that you need to plan out my love life.”

 

“Because, well… you suck at it,” was Fitz’s helpful reply. “But don’t worry! Gigi and I are here to help!

 

“Well that’s… only slightly terrifying,” Darcy told them, shuddering. “Really, can we please have this discussion in the morning? It’s late and I’m trying to sleep.”

 

“No, see, _now_ is the time we need to do it because Lizzie B ain’t around. It’s opportune. And we are going to take this golden opportunity to sort this mess out. Right, Gigi?”

 

“Absolutely, Fitz.”

 

Darcy shook his head as he heard the sound of two hands slapping together in the dark. “How is it even possible to high five in the dark?”

 

“Practice,” Fitz replied. “Practice. And that is exactly what you have to do to worm your way into your girl’s heart. Like a heartworm. I mean, you’re getting better already, I saw her smile at you the other day when you weren’t looking! A full blown smile!”

 

Darcy found the idea of a smile a little bit underwhelming considering the owner of said smile was currently naked behind him, caressing his pectoral. Previously, he would have been ecstatic, but now he had much better things to look forward to. “Ok.”

 

“Why aren’t you more excited about this?” demanded Gigi, practically stomping her foot.

 

“Oh I don’t know Gigi, maybe it’s because it’s two in the morning and I’m exhausted? Could I please go back to sleep?”

 

Fitz let out a frustrated groan. “Darcy, where are your priorities? Do you love this girl?”

 

“With all that I am,” Darcy replied without hesitation.

 

“Then we have got to up your game, man! We have got to get her emotionally back to the place she was when she was visiting Pemberly. You know, all flirty and stuff. Then we’ll organise some romantic candlelit dinners and then BAM! You’ll be in like Flynn. Singledom over!”

 

“And you’ll finally be able to hold her in your arms,” Gigi sighed happily.

 

“Eff that! We need to get you laid!” Fitz cried out dramatically.

 

A hysterical snort came from the direction of the bed.

 

“William, did you just _snort_?” Gigi demanded incredulously.

 

“Yes?” Darcy paused, wondering how to convincingly cover up Lizzie’s amusement at his predicament. “It was… amusing. Ha.”

 

Gigi ignored his entirely underwhelming attempt at feigning laughter and commented on what stood out as the most disturbing thing to her. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you do that in your entire life.”

 

Darcy grimaced, glad for the darkness that hid both the love of his life and the majority of his facial expressions from view. He was also glad that neither Fitz nor Gigi were currently sitting on the bed and as a result couldn’t feel the shaking of Lizzie’s silent mirth. He was almost pleased that one of them was enjoying themselves.

 

“And what exactly is so funny about you finally, _finally_ getting laid? Dude, they’re either about to explode or so blue that they’re going to turn black, shrivel up and fall off.”

 

“Fitz!” Darcy protested, ignoring the teeth that had clamped into the skin of his back in an effort to control amusement. If biting him on the back meant that she wouldn’t burst into hysterics, then she could feel free. For Darcy, however, there was nothing humorous about this situation in the slightest.

 

Darcy heard Gigi sigh and shuffle closer to the bed. “William, I want you to be honest with me… are you a virgin?”

 

“GIGI!”

 

He could hear Gigi’s defensiveness and could just imagine her stance; arms crossed, head tilted slightly back and face defiant. “What? You’ve never brought a girl home! I just wondered if that’s part of the reason why you’re hesitant to pursue Lizzie. Having a girlfriend means that eventually you’d have to be intimate with her and I can imagine that that would be worrying if you’ve never actually… done it before.”

 

“He’s not a virgin, Gigi,” Fitz told her, amusement lacing his voice. “We went to college together and I’m pretty certain he isn’t.”

 

“Were you there, Fitz?” Gigi demanded. “Did you see it happen? How can you be sure? Guys lie about their sexual conquests to other guys all the time.”

 

“You make a good point, Gigi,” Fitz commented, biting back a chuckle. “Perhaps it’s time we had the talk with him. Now Darcy, when a man and a woman love each other very much…”

 

“Just kill me,” he groaned, feeling Liz’s body shake behind him as her fingers clenched into his abdominal muscles in a fit of glee.

 

“…Or sometimes it’s a woman and a woman, or a man and a man, or two women and a man, or three dudes.” Fitz paused and his voice took on a speculative tone. “Or a man and a walrus, but only on very special occasions…”

 

“Fitz-” Darcy began, but got hushed for his troubles.

 

“Shhh. Anyway, sometimes those two people like to express their love for one another physically. And sometimes you just get hammered and take home someone ugly because you’re horny and your judgement is impaired.”

 

Darcy groaned again, wincing when Lizzie’s nails dug in sharper into his skin and her bodily shaking increased. “Fitz, please. I am not a virgin and I do not require a severely disturbing birds and the bees talk from you.”

 

“It’s ok if you’re scared, Darcy,” Fitz whispered, “I’m scared too.”

 

This comment proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

 

Lizzie couldn’t contain the unholy shriek of laughter that ripped itself free from her tight clutches.

 

This burst of laughter had two different effects. One, Fitz took an automatic step back, tripped over Darcy’s shoe and fell on his ass. Two, Gigi let out an unearthly scream and raced to the light switch, slapping it on.

 

The scene took a few moments to come into clarity as they all adjusted to the bright lights, but after that, chaos broke out.

 

“LIZZIE!” Gigi screeched. “OH MY GOD! You!” she pointed at Lizzie who was attempting to lean up on her forearms, but was finding it a challenge due to the fact she was still giggling madly. Gigi’s finger then turned in the direction of her brother. “And you! You’re both… AAAHHHHH!”

 

“Holy shit, Darce!” Fitz managed to get out, his face frozen in shock and his ass still residing on the floor. “You’ve finally upped your game!”

 

“What? When? How?” demanded Gigi as she stared at the two of them.

 

Before any of them could answer, both Bing and Jane raced through the door, coming to a dead halt when they saw what was happening.

 

“We heard screams,” Bing managed to get out, amused by the scene in front of him.

 

“Gigi is being dramatic,” Lizzie informed them, rolling her eyes.

 

“Did they find out about the two of you?” Jane asked, an amused smile on her face.

 

“You know?” demanded Gigi.

 

Jane shrugged, watching Gigi’s face morph from shock into indignant outrage. “Yeah, for a couple of days now.”

 

Her mouth dropped open and her eyes narrowed at the couple in the bed. “A couple of days! You let me think that… ugh!”

 

Gigi continued to glare at them, pleased to note that at least her brother had the decency to look shamefaced. Lizzie was still laughing and enjoying herself far too much.

 

“Did you know?” Fitz demanded, glaring at Bing.

 

Bing paused, shaking his head slowly. “I hadn’t been informed, but I did catch them kissing the other night.”

 

“What?” Lizzie said, her amusement coming to an abrupt halt. “When?”

 

“The, uh… the night after we got back from Central park. You two were in the kitchen together.”

 

Lizzie paled visibly and Darcy’s chin touched his neck. Oh god, what had he seen? Bing continued on, oblivious to the obvious panic his words had inspired in his friends. “You two were standing in the middle of the kitchen kissing, so I turned around and went back to bed. I figured that you two had decided that it was a mistake because the next day you were pretending nothing had happened. I figured that Darcy would talk to me about it when he was ready.”

 

Lizzie and Darcy visibly relaxed as Bing confirmed that he hadn’t walked in on them desecrating his kitchen. He had seen them _before_ they had taken it to the bench.

 

“Who else knows?” Gigi demanded, her arms crossed over her chest.

 

Lizzie took pity on Will and answered for him. He was clearly very, _very_ uncomfortable in the current situation. “Well… Bing was the first to find out apparently. Then Lydia, Jane, Charlotte… oh! Caroline-”

 

“Caroline knows?!” Gigi cried out in exasperation, cutting Lizzie off.

 

Fitz threw his hands up in the air. “Aww come on, Darce! I thought we were bros! Really? _Caroline_?”

 

Lizzie shrugged, biting back a gloating smirk. “Yeah, she knows too. I don’t think my Mom knows yet. Or my Dad.”

 

Darcy averted his eyes and made an attempt at placation. “I haven’t told Aunt Catherine.”

 

Gigi rolled her eyes. “Oh, well that makes me feel so much better.”

 

Lizzie grinned at her boyfriend’s grumpy younger sister. “Look on the bright side! At least now you know for sure that he’s not a virgin, Gigi.”

 

“Lizzie!”

 

“What?” Lizzie asked defensively, fidgeting under her boyfriend’s horrified glare. “She started it.”

 

Fitz shook his head, scarcely able to comprehend that his friend was in bed _naked_ with the love of his life. “Why did you hide it?”

 

Lizzie raised her hand, half gleeful, half sheepish. “That was my fault. I didn’t want a bunch of weirdos gloating about our relationship and butting in, so I asked for us to stay private for a little while. Will went along with it because he’s a nice guy.”

 

Fitz leaned in and murmured into Gigi’s ear, “I think we’re the weirdos in that scenario.”

 

“You think?” Huffing, Gigi turned for the door. “I’m fighting between hugging and hitting you both right now. I love you both, so I’m really happy for you. But you should know… I’m also considering murdering both of you.”

 

And with that said, she stormed out.

 

“This is betrayal, yo. Betrayal of the highest order. After everything Gigi and I did for you! After all we went through… I should have you both killed,” Fitz declared, determined to not be outdone by Gigi’s dramatic storm out. His exit was only marred by his tripping over Lizzie’s dress, but he felt that he recovered from it with dignity and poise. Lizzie dutifully bit her tongue and didn’t laugh at him.

 

“And off they both flounced,” Lizzie said dryly once Fitz’s footsteps had disappeared down the hall.

 

“Well, now that that’s done, we’re off to bed.” Jane grasped Bing by the hand and pulled him from the room. “Oh, Lizzie?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“If Catherine DeBourgh comes in here and screams bloody murder at catching you two, we’re not coming down to investigate. I’ve had enough excitement for one night.”

 

Lizzie nodded, not fussed by her sister’s desertion. “That’s ok. She’s old, I could take her. You will have to help me bury the body the next day though in exchange for letting a sister down in her time of need.”

 

“A fair and reasonable request. Well anyway, goodnight guys.” Exiting the room with Bing in tow, Jane switched off the light, plunging both Lizzie and Darcy into darkness.

 

Silence hung in the air between them for a moment, broken at last from a chuckle by Lizzie.

 

“That was traumatising,” commented Darcy, lying back down.

 

“That was hilarious!” exclaimed Lizzie, flopping back onto her pillows.

 

Reaching out, Darcy grasped her and pulled her into his arms. “I could tell that you found it particularly amusing. I, however, did not.”

 

Resting her head on his chest, Lizzie mused, “Who would have thought that oblivious Bing would be the first one to know?”

 

“You do not give him enough credit.”

 

She conceded the point. The man had gotten into med school, he couldn’t be completely clueless all the time. “It’s possible. Anyway, now that that’s over, the worst is yet to come.”

 

Darcy tensed up at the ominous tone in her voice. “What does that mean?”

 

“I wasn’t kidding about your aunt. And my mother will certainly be something to behold.”

 

Darcy shuddered, imagining both scenarios. “I am more frightened about Catherine to be perfectly honest.”

 

“Me too.”

 

He stroked his hand down her hair, an action that was meant more for soothing himself than it was for her. “I’ll just call her. It’ll give me a chance to hang up if things get too… heated.”

 

She chuckled into his skin. “Plus you’ll have convenient miles between the two of you, so you’ll be able to head in the opposite direction once you get word of her coming to see you.”

 

“Precisely.”

 

“Sounds like a plan, Stan.”

 

“I can’t believe you laughed,” he finally murmured with a chuckle, letting out his first sign of amusement for the night.

 

Lizzie leaned up on one arm and scoffed. “Please, I can’t believe I held it together for that long. Besides, it all turned out fine. Let it go.”

 

“You are paying for my therapy.”

 

Lizzie cupped his face in her hand and leaned down to kiss him lightly. “Duly noted, now go to sleep. You have punishments from an angry sister to endure tomorrow morning.”

 

Dutifully, Darcy closed his eyes and tightened his arms around her. Kissing the top of her head which once again rested on his chest, he allowed the tension to drain away and slowly drifted off to sleep. Lizzie followed him shortly after.

 

***


	14. Give In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Costume theatre and epilogues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY!! Sorry, sorry, sorry! I have been so blocked on this chapter, but I'm glad to say that it's finally all finished! I've never been particularly good at endings, but this one will suffice I guess. I had massive writer's block and then real life complications, but I'm back to bring some sort of closure!
> 
> And one more sorry for good measure!

***

 

“Hello internet! I know that I said that 100 videos seemed like a good place to stop, but fates have conspired against me. And by fates I mean, some really, _really_ pushy people.”

 

Sucking in a large breath, Lizzie glared off screen to her right. “You may be wondering, ‘how did this ridiculous set of circumstances happen?’ Oh, trust me, I am too.”

 

“Stop quoting yourself and get on with it,” grunted a voice from off camera.

 

Lizzie gestured to her right. “Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that was Gigi Darcy. By now, you must have many questions. Why am I with Gigi? Why am I making a new video after my retirement? What have I been doing after my graduation? Where am I?”

 

Gesturing to the blatant opulence behind her, Lizzie smiled indulgently at the camera. “To answer the last question, I’m at Bing’s place. No, we’re not having a torrid affair. I’m visiting Jane up in New York and I’m staying at Bing’s because Jane’s place is a shoebox.”

 

Lizzie smiled brightly at the next revelation. “After graduation I have been looking into starting my own digital media company. After talking about my diaries as a start-up, I got contacted by several potential investors and am starting up my own company.”

 

Gesturing off screen, Lizzie smirked to her right. “Gigi is here because she is also a guest of Bing’s. As for why I’m coming out of retirement momentarily… that’s a longer story. My name is Lizzie Bennet and I’m being blackmailed.”

 

She paused for an overly long period of time, knowing that it was easier to jump cut from the intro if she had a bigger space to cut around her talking to the camera.

 

“Blackmailed? Please, you’re lucky I didn’t murder you.”

 

Lizzie chuckled, amused by her friend’s anger. “I’m feeling the love, Gigi. As you may have guessed it, internet, Gigi is pissed. Why? Because I may have pulled a fast one on her.”

 

“Get on with it!”

 

Lizzie huffed and looked off camera with a reproachful stare. “Fitz, there is a flow to my story telling, you can’t just rush these things. You have to have patience.”

 

“Tell them or I will,” he grunted, just as annoyed with her as Gigi was. This anger, however, only served to amuse her more.

 

Lizzie rolled her eyes, fighting back a smile. “Fine. Both Gigi and Fitz are pissed because I may have hidden something from them. But before I reveal that story to you, I need an assistant.”

 

Trudging reluctantly over to the bench, Darcy sat and exhaled. Having been beckoned on by a finger, he wondered if he’d always be this biddable where she was concerned. He suspected that it might be the case. There were very few things he wouldn’t do for her.

 

Lizzie grinned at the camera, imagining her viewers’ reactions to his appearance. “Now, my loyal viewers, before you pee your pants, yes, Darcy is here. And yes, he has something to do with what transpired.”

 

“Oh for the love of…”

 

Her eyes narrowed at the interruption. “Don’t make me reshoot this, Fitz. Anyway, the reason why they’re pissed is because I hid something from them for a couple of days. That being…”

 

Turning swiftly, Lizzie grasped Will’s neck and pulled him into a kiss. She thoroughly enjoyed the way his arms came around her and he responded to the kiss. She was glad that no matter what the situation, William could always be relied upon for a kiss, no matter who was watching or where they were. Even if they were in front of a camera and it was going to be broadcast to thousands of people.

 

Pulling back slowly, Lizzie took a moment to steady her erratic heartbeat. Unable to contain the smile, she smirked to the camera. “William Darcy and I are in a relationship.”

 

Pausing for a moment, she smirked at the camera once more. “I’ll give you a moment to process that.”

 

“I don’t remember you being this smug in your previous videos,” Fitz remarked, his face still overset with a scowl.

 

She shrugged and felt her heart pulse with warmth in her chest as Darcy straightened his tie. How he managed to stop her heart with mundane actions, she didn’t know. “We did pull the wool over your eyes quite spectacularly.”

 

“Until we sprung them in bed together last night,” interrupted Fitz, giving Lizzie a smug smirk of his own as he popped into frame. “Truth!”

 

“You were in the room for ten minutes before you even realised I was in the bed too,” Lizzie reminded him. “You’re not exactly high calibre spies.”

 

“It was dark!” objected Fitz.

           

Darcy shook his head slightly, looking marginally amused. “In actuality, we were going to tell them both today, but when Gigi and Fitz came into my room to make a game plan for winning Lizzie’s heart, the timeline got sped up somewhat.”

 

Ducking into the shot, Gigi addressed the camera directly. “We were the last ones to know. Everyone else knows. Lydia, Jane, Charlotte… _Caroline_. It was unjust considering how much effort we put in on their behalves.”

 

Darcy sceptically raised one brow as he looked back at his sister. “Your methods of helping tended to be a little… unhelpful at times. Let’s just be realistic about this.”

 

“You wouldn’t have even spoken to each other if I hadn’t shoved you into the room together!” Gigi protested vehemently.

 

“And who organised Lizzy’s shadowing of Pemberly?” Fitz cried out, hooking his thumbs back into his chest. “This guy!”

 

“Really?” Lizzie asked, her eyebrows shooting up towards her hairline as she contemplated this new information. “Huh.”

 

“Regardless of all that, we’re really pleased for them both,” Jane insisted as she ducked in behind the two of them and narrowed her eyes in Team Figi’s direction.

 

“Once I forgive you for your treason, I’m sure I will be too,” Gigi huffed dramatically.

 

Lizzie snorted. “Treason? That’s a little bit… too dramatic.”

 

“I’m a dramatic person,” she declared resolutely, pushing them off the bench they were seated. “Now move, Fitz and I have got this.”

 

“What exactly are you doing?” Lizzie asked, a little nonplussed that her video had been hijacked by Gigi and Fitz – the latter promptly sitting down as soon as the bench was free.

 

“Costume theatre,” Gigi replied, waving a blue plaid shirt at Lizzie. “I took the liberty of rummaging through your luggage for this. Strangely enough, you also had the newsie hat and bow tie on hand as well...”

 

Lizzie shrugged as Darcy’s questioning stare turned her way. “Always pays to be prepared?”

 

“What exactly are you going to costume theatre?” Darcy inquired.

 

“You and Lizzie getting together,” Gigi replied as she handed the plaid shirt to Fitz and placed the newsie cap on her head. “I’m determined to be the best William Darcy the internet has ever seen.”

 

“But you didn’t even see it!” Lizzie objected, taken aback by this sudden turn of events. “Seriously?”  


Gigi smiled diabolically at her. “But of course. Now hush, the grown-ups are talking.”

 

Lizzie huffed and washed her hands of the whole affair. “Fine. Have at it. You know, costume theatre is harder than you think and one of you hasn’t ever done it before.”

 

Fitz rolled his eyes at her. “You’re exaggerating its difficulty.”

 

Gigi fastened the bow tie around her neck and nodded at Fitz. She cleared her throat and picked up the script that Fitz had prepared earlier, her voice deep and robotic. “Elizabeth, fancy meeting you here in the dark kitchen… all alone.”

 

“That was extremely sinister, Gigi,” Darcy objected.

 

Gigi waved his concerns away. “I didn’t write it, Fitz did. Now shush, I’m breaking character.”

 

“Fancy, indeed,” Fitz said coyly, fluttering his eyelashes and simpering.

 

“Oh god,” Lizzie groaned.

 

Raising her hand, Gigi pressed her palm to Fitz’s cheek. “The light from the refrigerator sets off the alabaster of your skin and the soft green glow from the microwave almost makes you ethereal.”

 

Fitz giggled and sighed at Gigi. “Why thank you, Darcy. This atmosphere makes you look so much less robotic, so much more… human.”

 

As seriously as she could, Gigi whispered. “I wish to rain kisses down on your face.”

 

“Proceed.”

 

Fitz then moved in and began peppering Gigi’s face with kisses while she squealed with laughter.

 

Shoving them off the bench, Lizzie shook her head at the camera after taking their seats. “That was only…” Lizzie paused and pretended to contemplate the percentage. “80% accurate at best. Let the pros show you how it’s done.”

 

Darcy sighed again and took a seat next to her, his brow puckering with adorable confusion when she handed him her blue plaid shirt. “Lizzie, I think you may have given me the wrong costume.”

 

“Nope,” Lizzie replied breezily as she strapped the red bow tie around her neck. “I feel like switching things up. You play me and I’ll play you. We both remember that night fairly well so this shouldn’t be too difficult.”

 

“My arm doesn’t fit in the arm hole,” he objected, looking vaguely horrified at the prospect of playing his girlfriend.

 

“It’s not my fault that you’re fat,” Lizzie replied with a smirk. “Just drape it over your shoulders like a cape.”

 

“Capes are for rapists,” Fitz supplied, feeling the need to help along Darcy’s cause. He himself hadn’t even tried to put the shirt on when he’d played Lizzie, he’d simply draped it over one shoulder.

 

Jane grimaced at the accusation. “I’m almost completely sure that that’s not true.”

 

“All of these comments from outside of the frame are making for one very disjointed video, so all of you hush your mouths,” Lizzie ordered. The newsie cap was now perched jauntily atop her head and Darcy had begrudgingly slung her shirt around his shoulders.

 

“To set the scene, I was standing in front of the open refrigerator perusing its contents when Will showed up. We’ll take the scene from there.”

 

To Darcy’s credit, he submitted himself to the indignity of playing his girlfriend with grace and as much self-poise as he could.

 

“Midnight snack?” enquired Lizzie, her Darcy impression much softer than previous incarnations. His voice was no longer strident and his tone no longer biting and the real Darcy found himself smiling as he made the comparison.

 

“I cannot sleep,” Darcy replied, his voice in a higher octave than he was used to. He ignored Lizzie’s biting of her lip in amusement in favour of wracking his brains in an effort to remember what was said that night. It was the best night of his life, but he had been so nervous around her that the minutes proceeding their coming together had become a bit of a blur. “I thought that perhaps the fridge might be of some use in that regard.”

 

Lizzie winced at the overly formal words he used but made no comment. He was trying and she loved him all the more for it. “I admit, I cannot sleep either.”

 

“Perhaps you would like some caviar?” Darcy suggested, adopting a faux bemused look as he held up an imaginary jar. “Bing has caviar?”

 

“Caviar’s good,” objected Bing, shrinking back when a chorus of ‘shhh’ greeted his statement. Everyone else was too interested in watching a highly meta version of Lizzie and Darcy’s relationship inception to worry about Bing’s taste for fancy foods. “Sorry.”

 

“I must admit that I have never acquired a taste for it,” Lizzie replied, her gaze lingering on Darcy’s features.

 

Darcy held a finger to his lips. “Shhh, you will be expelled from your country club if they hear blasphemy like that.”

 

Lizzie laughed, finding it difficult to maintain the depth of Darcy’s voice as she did so. She trailed off and stared at Darcy with as much intensity as she could muster, then leaned forward.

 

Despite knowing that there was still more to come, Darcy found himself leaning forward in reciprocation; trapped in her gaze.

 

He didn’t have to fake the look of disappointment when she grabbed the imaginary jar of caviar from his hand, mimed returning it to its spot and leaned back, murmuring, “We wouldn’t want it getting warm.”

 

Lizzie knocked the cap off of her head and pulled the Velcro apart on her bowtie. “I then shut the fridge door, my arm brushed against Will’s stomach, he grabbed me and kissed me and the rest, as they say, is history.”

 

Ducking into frame after Darcy had pulled the shirt from its precarious position on his back, Gigi enquired, “So you’re not going to re-enact that part?”

 

“Nope. I’ve already kissed him on-screen once. You can just use your imagination for the first kiss.”

 

“Your fans will be disappointed,” admonished Gigi with a wag of her finger.

 

“My fans are a little bit pervy,” Lizzie remarked, shooting an apologetic look towards the camera. “No offense.”

 

“Well since you’ve nixed that idea, how about we re-enact Aunt Catherine’s phone call to William this morning,” Gigi suggested, her tone saccharine sweet.

 

“Let’s not,” Lizzie grunted back. Turning to face her viewers, she explained as briefly as she could through gritted teeth. “Will ingeniously thought that telling her by phone about our relationship would soften her reaction. He was, however, completely and utterly incorrect in that assumption.”

 

“Her voice carried all throughout the apartment,” Jane supplied, sending Lizzie a look of deep sympathy.

 

“And considering that she was on the phone at the time, that’s quite an achievement,” Bing interjected. “Imagine what it would have been like had she been here.”

 

A collective shudder went through the group. Lizzie shook off the image and said, “Needless to say she was not pleased about this new development. She had certain plans in regards to that area of Will’s life and is not in the habit of brooking disappointment. Her words, not mine.”

 

“She may have called Lizzie a few things,” Gigi told the camera as she ducked down behind the two of them, smiling at the sight of Lizzie’s hand engulfed in her older brother’s. She sent a look of apology to Lizzie who rolled her eyes.

 

“I have been called worse things. I mean, really, who calls somebody a harlot these days anyway?”

 

“My aunt,” Darcy replied, squeezing her hand in silent apology. “She hasn’t really adapted to newer slang.”

 

“I’d call it a family trait but Gigi’s pretty normal,” Lizzie teased.

 

“I’m so sorry,” he apologised for the millionth time that morning. “How am I ever to make up for the rudeness of my aunt?”

 

Lizzie squeezed his hand in return and shook her head. “It’s not your job to apologise for her, Will. She’s a grown woman. A grown woman who then reamed out her employee for being friends with me. Charlotte was not amused. Poor ol’ tricky Ricky (who happened to be in the room when said reaming was occurring) was positively stricken and rang me to “appeal to my better nature and put an end to this inappropriate relationship.” I may have hung up on him.”

 

“Tricky Ricky?” laughed Fitz.

 

Rolling her eyes, Lizzie smiled towards the camera. “He lost the right to be called Mr Collins when he insinuated himself into my relationship.”

 

“It has been a fun twenty four hours,” Darcy murmured, his gaze raking over Lizzie’s face, looking for any sign that she was upset. He was not convinced by her blasé attitude, but he hoped that she wouldn’t feel the need to hide her feelings from him. Not now.

 

“And we still have yet to call my mother. Get ready to be bombarded with fawning, because she’s going to be all over you like white on rice.” Laughing lightly at the look of horror on his face, Lizzie’s heart glowed at the concern he was showing moments before. She knew he didn’t believe that she was fine about Catherine’s attack, but she didn’t care about her opinion. All she cared about was how it affected him.

 

“Excellent,” Darcy mumbled.

 

Clapping her hands together, Lizzie prepared to sign off for her final video. “Anywho internet, I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief epilogue. Lydia is getting better, my parents still own the house and Charlotte is currently trying to put out fires over at Collins & Collins, but aside from that she’s all good too. Now, everyone get on-screen and say goodbye to the loyal viewers!”

 

Whilst they piled into the frame, Lizzie’s eyes caught Darcy’s and she smiled brightly at him. Despite all odds, they had made it here, together. Waving goodbye to a chapter of her life with people that she loved, Lizzie couldn’t imagine a better ending to her videos.

 

***


End file.
